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Medicare Plagued by Waste, Fraud, Abuse
Opinion -With cost savings through reduction of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare system being offered as a key funding source for health care reform currently under consideration on Capitol Hill, eliminating this corruption could require Medicare to adopt -
Medicare Reimbursement Cap Called Unlikely to Stop Fraud
Opinion -Responding to serious Medicare fraud and corruption in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, where five doctors from one clinic were found guilty of racketeering over the past three years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing a -
Senator Suggests ‘New Entity’ To Oversee Medicare
Opinion -Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has suggested creating a “new entity” to oversee Medicare, the federal health insurance program for retirees. -
Fewer Alaska Doctors Take New Medicare Patients
Opinion -Fewer than 20 percent of physicians surveyed in Alaska’s largest city are accepting new patients covered by Medicare, according to a study by the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. -
Bill Would Let Retirees Forgo Medicare
Opinion -A Tennessee Congresswoman has offered legislation to allow retirees the option of forgoing enrollment in Medicare without losing their Social Security benefits, which federal law currently prevents them from doing. -
Eliminating Medicare Advantage Program Would Stifle Positive Change
Opinion -Shortly before his inauguration, President Barack Obama told journalist George Stephanopoulos he was considering eliminating the entire Medicare Advantage program. -
Medicare Trust Fund Running Dry, Studies Say
Opinion -A senior official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has confirmed the results of an Associated Press investigative report revealing the current economic downturn could cause the Medicare Part A trust fund to run out of funds up to three -
Senior Citizens Press Demand to Opt Out of Medicare, Retain Social Security Benefit
Opinion -A bill before the U.S. House of Representatives and a lawsuit in federal district court both aim to overturn a government policy preventing payment of Social Security benefits to senior citizens who do not enroll in Medicare. -
Medicare Benefits Fall Short of Employer-Provided Health Care Plans
Opinion -Employer-provided health plans provide more generous benefits to seniors than Medicare does, according to an analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt Associates. -
Congress Votes to Protect Medicare Price Controls on Medical Supplies
Opinion -By overriding President George W. Bush's veto of the Medicare "sustainable growth rate" (SGR) fix, the U.S. House and Senate delayed for 18 months a planned 10.6 percent cut in physician reimbursements for Medicare cases. -
Fewer Doctors Are Accepting Medicare Cases
Opinion -The number of Texas physicians willing to take on Medicare patients is declining, according to the Texas Medical Association, and even fewer doctors are expected to do so in the future. -
Congress Delays Action on SCHIP and Medicare Reforms
Opinion -In response to presidential vetoes, Congress has set aside action on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicare until at least the middle of 2008. -
Generic Drugs Are Saving Money for Seniors in Medicare Part D
Opinion -The use of generic medicines is bringing down costs in Medicare's Part D prescription drug program, and Congress is considering a proposal to require pharmacies to use generics unless a doctor can prove brand-name drugs are medically necessary. -
Medicare Offers MSAs
Opinion -November 15 marked the first day in Medicare's open-enrollment season, which runs until December 31. During this time, every Medicare beneficiary can choose the health plan he or she will use in 2008. -
Medicare’s Biggest Little Secret
Opinion -For the first time ever Medicare is making Medical Savings Accounts available to virtually all beneficiaries during the current open enrollment season. -
New Medicare Rule on Specialty Hospitals Will Hurt Patients, Doctors, Experts Say
Opinion -A stringent new Medicare rule barring doctors from referring patients to specialty hospitals in which they have a financial stake has some experts crying foul. -
Medicare, Medicaid Underpayments Raise Insurance Rates
Opinion -A study released in June by the California Foundation for Commerce and Education (CFCE) suggests a substantial factor driving up private health care costs is government underpayments to hospitals in the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs. -
Medicare Finances in Dire Condition
Opinion -The law that gave us Medicare prescription drugs says if Medicare's finances deteriorate sufficiently, the president must propose a remedy and Congress must expedite its consideration. -
Medicare Part D Costs $136B Less than Estimated
Opinion -A report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on January 24 reveals Medicare Part D costs are substantially lower than federal officials estimated they would be, thanks in part to free-market forces at work in the plan. -
Medicare Part D Doesn’t Need Direct Negotiation
Opinion -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, pledged to remove in the first week of the congressional session the current ban on federal negotiation of drug pricing for Medicare beneficiaries. -
Medicare Book Informs and Amuses
Opinion -Medicare Meets Mephistopheles By David Hyman Washington, DC: Cato Institute Press, 2006 138 pages, paperback, ISBN: 1930865902, $9.95 The road to hell, we're told, is paved with good intentions. -
Means-Testing Medicare: Stealth Tax on Upper-Income Retirees
Opinion -Starting in 2007, a new surcharge on upper-income retirees will require them to pay more for their Medicare Part B coverage based on their income as reported for federal tax purposes. -
Medicare Officials Call for Consumer-Friendly Reform
Opinion -Medicare officials say it's time to modernize the health plan by providing America's seniors with more information and choice. But critics say these are just euphemisms for confusion and higher cost. -
Medicare Worries?
Opinion -Dear Editor: Robert Pear's report, "Renewed Worries on Medicare Drug Plans" (December 5), was startling.
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