House Ways and Means Democrats continued their party's assault on provisions of President Bush's fiscal 2008 budget proposal that Democrats say would weaken the nation's already fragile health care safety net and increase the number of uninsured Americans. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt did his best to defend the provisions under fire—saying that they would strengthen federal entitlement programs and help more Americans purchase health insurance. Read more »
The fiscal 2008 budget proposal released by the White House would reduce yearly Medicare payment updates across the health sector to grab the lion's share of the $76 billion the administration proposes to cut from the program over the next five years. The plan also would shave $26 billion from federal Medicaid spending over that period, for a total of $102 billion in cuts over both programs over five years. Read more »
Capitol Hill lawmakers are reacting favorably to the newest labor-business coalition focused on reducing the number of uninsured Americans. AT&T, Wal-Mart, and the Service Employees International Union are part of the wide-ranging group that announced a set of principles to overhaul the nation's health care system by 2012. Other founding members include the Center for American Progress, the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, the Communications Workers of America, and Intel. Read more »
Even when patients spend their own money on health care, there is little shopping based on cost or quality, according to a study the Center for Studying Health System Change released. While markets for self-pay medical procedures such as LASIK and cosmetic surgery are often noted as examples of consumer comparison shopping, significant barriers to effective shopping for other medical services exist, with consumers often instead relying on word-of-mouth recommendations to choose providers. Read more »
Funding levels, outreach activities, and coverage of adults are all among the major issues in the debate over reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), experts said at a forum. Read more »
Launching a plan to conduct "aggressive" oversight of the pharmaceutical industry, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., said that he is sending letters to the Medicare program and to Medicare prescription drug plans to determine how profitable they are and how much of the savings they negotiate are being passed on to Medicare beneficiaries. Waxman said the findings would help determine whether the Medicare prescription drug program is "wasting taxpayer dollars" and overcharging Medicare beneficiaries. Read more »