End Of COBRA Subsidy Rattles Newly Unemployed
As part of the economic stimulus, the government offered subsidies so laid-off workers could keep their health insurance. For some, the subsidies are running out.
All Coverage
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Lawmakers, White House Consider Bipartisan Route To Bend Health ‘Cost Curve’
With growing signs that health reform bills would do little to “bend the cost curve,” Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., want a bipartisan commission to control future Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs.
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Transcript: Health On The Hill – October 26, 2009
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin talk about new optimism among liberal Democrats that a public option will be included in the final health overhaul bill. They also discuss Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s determination to have a bill soon.
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Health On The Hill
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin talk about new optimism among liberal Democrats that a public option will be included in the final health overhaul bill. They also discuss Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s determination to have a bill soon.
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Politics Aside, Annual Medicare Fix Is Same Old Story
When Congress tried to fix a glitch in Medicare that threatens to cut payments to doctors, senators refused to take up the bill because it didn’t include a way to offset the estimated $245 billion, 10-year cost. Both Democrats and Republicans are claiming that previous “fixes” for the Medicare doctor fee problem were paid for, but actually they weren’t.
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Opinion Column
Aging In Place Is Not So Easy
We’ll never keep everyone at home. But if we work at it, we can postpone the transition for months or even years.
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An Experiment In Reducing Costs, Improving Care At Hillcrest Medical Center
Seventy-six year old Frank Morrow is not only having his knee replaced at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s also helping to test a Medicare payment system.
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Tulsa Hospital Gives Medicare Patients Cash Back For Surgery
At Hillcrest Medical Center, which is testing a “bundled” Medicare payment system, some seniors get paid up to $1,157 for having surgery. The pilot program aims to save money and improve care by paying doctors and hospitals a lump sum and rewards the patients with part of the savings.
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Fight Erupts Over Health Insurance Rates For Businesses With More Women
Advocates for women are fighting to end gender rating in larger businesses as health overhaul legislation moves through Congress. But insurers say it’s necessary to use gender as a means of setting rates for this market.
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Democrats Push To End Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption
The relationship between the Democrats and health insurers has turned ugly since the industry began to spurn the health care makeover it once supported. Now, some members of Congress Democrats want to strip the industry’s exemption from federal antitrust laws.
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How Health Reform Bills Would – And Wouldn’t – Affect Illegal Immigrants
This brief explainer examines the number of uninsured illegal immigrants, where they go for health services and how they would fare if current health reform proposals pass.
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Opponents Try To Undo Health Bill Deals
While top members of the House and Senate are struggling to put together health care overhaul bills on Capitol Hill, elsewhere in Washington, patient advocates and other groups are trying to take apart some of the deals already cut with top health care industry groups.
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As Congress Moves To Cut Medicare Advantage Funding, Some Seniors Could Get Reprieve
The Senate Finance Committee calls for cuts in private Medicare plans to help pay for health reform. Some senators on the panel, worried about the 10.5 million seniors in the plans
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Opinion Column
Attacking Dartmouth Atlas Is Off-Target
Trying to discredit the Dartmouth data is a distraction from the real work that’s needed to understand and remedy the extraordinary amount of money spent on care that does not appear to make a difference in health.
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Public Option Short On Democratic Votes In Senate
It’s not clear how many Democrats would back a public option – a government insurance program that competes with private insurers – in the final health overhaul bill.
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Drug Coupons Hide True Costs Of Medicines From Consumers
Pharmaceutical companies have found a way around higher insurance copays for brand-name drugs. They offer coupon cards so patients don’t have to pay more. But insurance companies say that if everyone uses the cards to get pricier name-brand drugs, premiums will rise. This story comes from our partner
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Advocates Urge Action Now To ‘Fix’ Medicare Doctor Payments
Legislation to ‘fix’ Medicare’s formula for physician payments is stalled in the Senate with opposition mounting to the fact that the bill comes with a hefty cost, but no plan to pay its price tag.
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Congress Wrestles With Yearly Medicare Fee Cuts
Medicare payments to doctors are scheduled to be cut more than 20 percent on Jan. 1, which could lead many doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients altogether. To stop the cuts, Congress must find a way to offset the estimated $245 billion cost over 10 years. This story comes from our partner
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Baucus Doubts Public Option Can Get 60 Votes In Senate
Although negotiators are considering various forms of a public option as they try to meld health overhaul bills approved by two Senate panels, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., says it’s unlikely the Senate would approve major legislation this year that includes a pure form of the controversial government-operated insurance program.
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Health On The Hill – Transcript
KHN’s Eric Pianin and NPR’s Julie Rovner discuss recent and upcoming activities on the Hill — part of a weekly series of video reports.
