Obama administration officials insisted last week they are not backing away from support of the public option in the health overhaul, despite Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' comment on a CNN talk show that it's "not the essential element" for providing consumers with choice and competition in insurance plans. That, combined with President Obama's own remarks at a town hall meeting, brought an avalanche of headlines suggesting that the public option is ready to be junked by a White House facing falling poll numbers when it comes to health care. Democrats, though, quickly lined up to show Obama just how difficult that might be, with defenders ranging all the way up to the speaker of the House. Read more »
Bipartisan overhaul negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee agreed via teleconference to put an increased emphasis on affordability of care and reducing health costs in any bill they produce. But there was no indication of a final deal or agreement coming out of the 90-minute discussion, or details on how much more they might try to carve out of legislation pegged in an initial estimate to cost $900 billion over 10 years. The group of six senators did agree to meet again before they return to Washington after Labor Day. Read more »
With prospects for a bipartisan agreement increasingly slim, the Obama administration is weighing the merits of splitting a health care overhaul into two pieces. Under such an approach, the most contentious provisions—including those creating a government-run health plan—would advance under the budget reconciliation procedure, making that bill immune to filibuster in the Senate.
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You mean they haven't adopted it yet? "Value-based purchasing" in Medicare has been discussed for so many years that it may come as a surprise that the program isn't close to adopting it yet—although it's getting closer. The term refers to varying Medicare payment levels based on the quality and efficiency of treatment delivered by doctors, hospitals, and health plans. Read more »
The Obama administration announced the availability of $1.2 billion in grant money to establish technical assistance centers and health information networks across the country. Read more »
A study by the Rand Corp. found that the most promising approach for curbing rising health care costs in Massachusetts is to change the way in which payments are made for health care services, moving to methods such as bundled payments. Read more »