Massachusetts Lawmakers Unveil Ambitious Plan To Cut Health Care Costs
The proposal for state House lawmakers would control rising medical costs by capping a cap on health-care spending and could include a tax on hospitals.
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The proposal for state House lawmakers would control rising medical costs by capping a cap on health-care spending and could include a tax on hospitals.
More doctors are being trained, but some say the move could backfire since too many young doctors are going into high-paid specialties instead of primary care, which could exacerbate rising health care costs.
Accountable care organizations will confront questions, including whether this new model for delivering medical treatment has the muscle to overcome the system's entrenched incentives.
The chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society has a powerful message for the country: We're all responsible for overuse of the health care system.
As Massachusetts' state legislators put the finishing touches on a major health care cost-control bill, there is still one big question: How much could it save employers and fatten employee paychecks?
People who are not admitted to the hospital
Laws in about half the states allow plans to restrict payments for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. That can hamper hospital efforts to counsel patients on the dangers of their behavior.
When a health insurer buys a business that helps hospitals win billing battles with insurers, alarm bells should sound, experts say.
Charity care at nonprofit hospitals is scrutinized by state and federal officials, as hospitals go to great lengths to collect unpaid debts from patients.
Covering more than 11.4 million people, high-deductible health care plans are no longer a novelty-they are becoming mainstream. Here's a brief guide to this popular type of health insurance.
Study projects refunds under the health care law will vary widely by state.
For a few dollars you can buy travel health insurance coverage that protects you if you have to cancel or shorten a trip if you, your traveling companions or even a family member not traveling with you becomes ill and requires care.
Advocates want curbs on what consumers pay toward physical, occupation and speech therapy visits. Insurers say that could raise premiums.
Quality is uneven at federally funded clinics that treat millions of poor people.
But some patients still struggle to find specialists.
KHN's Jordan Rau and Mary Agnes Carey discuss Medicare's transition to compensating doctors based on the quality of the medical care they provide.
Seeking care from hospitals and doctors who haven't agreed to negotiated rates with your insurer is costly but consumers can get help from a new database on pricing. The health law is also easing some out-of-network emergency expenses.
A little-noticed provision of the health law calls for increasing reimbursements to doctors who provide quality care at lower cost and reducing payments to physicians who run up costs without better results.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation finds that the state spends $91 million more per year, or 1.4 percent of the state budget, for near-universal health insurance coverage. "That's a very tiny additional cost to taxpayers for huge benefits," says MTF President Michael Widmer.
Massachusetts Medical Society President Dr. Lynda Young offers her views on how the practice of medicine has changed in the six years since the state's health reform law took effect and how issues of health care costs continue to be an everyday concern.
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