As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a proposed regulation that it said is aimed at helping low-income Medicare beneficiaries remain in their current Medicare drug plan without having to pay a premium, the group Consumers Union released an analysis that found 75 percent of Medicare drug plans have raised their costs in 2008, averaging $369 for the five commonly used drugs between December and January. Read more »
A respected yearly analysis of health care spending data found that 2006 marked the biggest yearly jump in Medicare spending in the past 25 years, with outlays rising 18.7 percent. Other data in the analysis showed a remarkable moderation of U.S. health spending growth, with Medicaid spending dropping for the first time ever and outlays for physician and clinical services and nursing home care growing at their slowest rate since 1999. Meanwhile, premiums for private health insurance plans grew just 5.5 percent, the smallest rate of increase since 1997. Read more »
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) approved two recommendations concerning skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies. MedPAC then approved two others on long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities that were revised from last month's draft recommendations in part due to provisions included in legislation signed into law in December that blocked a scheduled Medicare payment cut to physicians. Read more »
Medical researchers have found that the Medicare drug benefit has had a "modest but significant" effect on both reducing out-of-pocket expenses for seniors and increasing their use of prescription drugs. Read more »
As many as 27,000 Americans may have died in 2006 because they did not have health insurance, a new study estimates. The study by the Urban Institute puts a new spin on a six-year-old Institute of Medicine study that found that 18,000 people died in 2001 because of a lack of insurance. Read more »
Although the United States is the global leader in health care spending, it ranks last among industrialized nations in preventing deaths from treatable conditions, according to a recent study from The Commonwealth Fund. Read more »