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Medicare Debate Will Decide Entitlement Future
Opinion -The escalating political debate about the future of Medicare reveals a fear of change coupled with the growing recognition that change is essential to sustain the program for the future.Medicare is facing $38 trillion in red ink. -
Feds Crack Down on Medicare Fraud
Opinion -In a major crackdown by the U.S. -
Vermont Forced to Pay Medicare Recipients Twice in Budgetary Snafu
Opinion -President Barack Obama's health reform law has resulted in Vermont seniors on Medicare receiving their benefits twice in a budgetary snafu which is being criticized as a sign of the new law’s inefficiency. -
Mayo Clinic Makes Medicare, Medicaid Cuts
Opinion -The controversy over below-market government reimbursement rates has led the famed Mayo Clinic to close off access for many Medicare and Medicaid patients. -
Survey: Doctors Dropping Out of Medicare
Opinion -A new survey of Texas doctors, conducted by the Texas Medical Association, indicates more Lone Star State physicians are severing all ties with the federal Medicare program, possibly as a reaction to anticipated cuts in physician payments. -
Senators: Government Brochure Sent to Medicare Recipients Is ‘Propaganda’
Opinion -Senate Republicans strongly criticized a new brochure mailed to Medicare recipients by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) purporting to explain facets of the new health care law signed by President Barack Obama. -
Medicare Drug Price Hikes Continue
Opinion -Insurers offering the top ten most popular Medicare prescription drug plans raised prices by an average of 10 percent in 2010, according to a study by advisory services company Avalere Health. Average premiums have risen to $34. -
Congress Likely to Stiff AMA on Medicare Reimbursement Fix
Opinion -The debate over national health care reform has stalled in the wake of the victory by Republican Scott Brown in the recent Massachusetts Senate election. Moderate Democrats want no further action before the midterms. -
Scully, Thompson Wrestle with Medicare Payments
Opinion -Thomas Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), told members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health the Bush administration will help Congress revise the formula used to set reimbursement rates for -
Policy Diagnosis: Doctors and Patients vs. Medicare and Medicaid
Opinion -Editor’s Note: Medicare and Medicaid spending constituted a combined 36 percent of national health expenditures in 2014, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reports. The same year, U.S. health care spending accounted for 17. -
At 50 Years Old, Medicare Is Showing Its Age
Opinion -When President Lyndon Johnson (D) signed Medicare into law on July 30, 1965, nobody realized the program would grow to its current size. In 2014 alone, Medicare spent $613 billion on nearly 54 million beneficiaries. -
Nearly 2,600 Hospitals Pay Medicare’s Readmission Penalties
Opinion -The majority of the nation’s hospitals are being penalized by Medicare for having patients frequently return within a month of discharge -- this time losing a combined $420 million, according to new data from the federal government. -
Medicaid, Medicare Threaten New Mexico’s Budget
Opinion -High health care costs in government programs and other expenses have New Mexico on its way to becoming the Greece of the United States.One out of every 2.5 New Mexico residents is on Medicaid, compared to the national average of one out of every 4. -
Medicare Rules, State Regulations Prevent Cost-Saving Innovations
Opinion -Have you ever wondered why doctors are reluctant to talk to you on the phone?It’s been almost a century since all the other professionals discovered the telephone is a handy way of communicating with clients, but not doctors. Why is that? -
President Calls for Federal Drug Price Negotiation in Medicare Part D
Opinion -President Barack Obama’s latest budget proposal calls for the federal government to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. -
Heartland Institute Experts Comment on ‘Doc Fix’ Bill for Medicare
Opinion -Leaders in the House of Representatives on Tuesday introduced legislation to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for Medicare payments to doctors and replace it with a different formula. -
Here’s One Way to Kill Medicare Advantage
Opinion -Medicare Advantage is a fairly popular part of Medicare, allowing seniors to opt out of the conventional government-run system and instead select private coverage offered by health insurers. -
‘Better Price Controls’ Aren’t the Answer for Medicare
Opinion -The Obama administration just announced it will be shifting how it pays doctors under Medicare, seeking to reward “value” instead of “volume. -
HHS: Medicare Buys Drugs for Dead People
Opinion -A report from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General recently found Medicare has reimbursed the cost of drugs for beneficiaries who were already dead, pointing to fraudulent diversion of expensive medicines into the black market. -
Vermont Governor Seeks Control of Medicare
Opinion -Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) and members of his administration travelled to Washington, DC to meet with U.S. -
Medicare Drug Plans Need Tools to Combat Drug Abuse
Opinion -In August, House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chairman Kevin Brady introduced a bill, the Protecting Integrity in Medicare Act of 2014, designed to help Medicare drug plans reduce fraud. -
Will Medicare Become Like the VA?
Opinion -Most veterans get most of their medical care from private doctors through Medicare or private insurance. Just think what those secret waiting lists would be like if they didn’t! -
Research & Commentary: Medicare Part D’s Success
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Medicare Part D has been a great success by most objective measures. -
Obama Backs off Assault on Medicare Part D
Opinion -consumer-power-report -Consumer Power Report #410 On Monday, the Obama administration announced a rare surrender on an anti-market line of attack – this time, an attempt to warp the Medicare Part D prescription drug program into a more government-directed entity.
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