The administration pulled the Medicare "trigger," sending Congress legislation to reduce Medicare spending through medical liability caps, information technology improvements, and increased drug benefit premiums for higher income Medicare beneficiaries. Read more »
Many lobbyists and analysts see Congress moving only a slim Medicare package this year that does little more than protect doctors against payment cuts with offsetting reductions elsewhere in Medicare to pay for that protection. Maybe Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark think so too, but they weren't talking that way. Read more »
Investing in health information technology will improve the overall quality of health care and reduce medical errors and costs, health care experts told the Senate Budget Committee. Read more »
Reps. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., proposed a bipartisan universal health plan that they hope will provide the same health coverage to all Americans that they receive as members of Congress. Read more »
The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health and the National Business Group on Health announced a two-year, $300,000 initiative that would aim to combat racial and ethnic disparities among minorities receiving employer-sponsored health care. Read more »
In the weeks following President Bush's second veto of Democrats' legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), tensions continue to mount between administration officials, Democrats, and children's groups over funding for children's health care programs. Read more »
The "trigger" proposal released by the Bush administration fires lots of blanks as far as Democrats are concerned, but one of the three titles--"Principles of Value-Based Health Care"--drew some praise from a key Senate Democrat. Read more »