The senior lobby AARP is turning up the heat on senators to give the Health and Human Services secretary authority to negotiate drug prices in Medicare, urging a massive call-in by its members. Read more »
The U.S. Census Bureau has lowered its estimate of the number of Americans without health insurance to 44.8 million, down from 46.6 million. The bureau blamed the incorrect higher estimate released last August on some household members being tabulated as uninsured when in fact they reported being covered. Read more »
The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued a report challenging insurers' arguments that cuts to Medicare Advantage plans would disproportionately harm minorities. Read more »
Efforts to establish a "pay-for-performance" system in Medicare may be complicated by the number of physicians Medicare patients typically see, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Read more »
Legislation designed to help deliver dental services to low-income children under Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell, D-Mich. Read more »
While both parties on Capitol Hill maintain a strong interest in passing a health care information technology bill, other legislative priorities and a lack of funding could delay or prevent action this year, congressional aides said Monday. Read more »
House Democrats won a narrow but important victory Thursday as the chamber voted 216-210 to adopt a nearly $3 trillion fiscal 2008 budget resolution. Read more »
The verbal exchanges at American Enterprise Institute (AEI) gatherings are usually spicy, but it appears they'll become even hotter now that former House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas is part of the mix. Thomas dominated the policy debate at an AEI forum on physician payment, standing in the audience during a question-and-answer portion and sternly lecturing Edward L. Langston, the chairman-elect of the American Medical Association, for resisting quality-based payment. Read more »
A new study by two left-leaning groups says the government could save as much as $30 billion a year if Medicare were allowed to negotiate drug prices, though the Congressional Budget Office issued a letter earlier this year saying savings would be nominal. Read more »
A multi-faceted strategy of federal grants, tax credits, loans and additional Medicare payments could be the ticket to enticing physicians and other health care providers to adopt and use health information technology, witnesses and lawmakers said at a House hearing Wednesday. Read more »
After years of wrestling with how to provide health care coverage to millions of Americans who do not have it, policymakers and politicians may be coming to a consensus around proposals requiring most Americans to buy private insurance with public assistance, according to a CQ Researcher report. Read more »
Senate Finance Committee members John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, announced a plan Friday to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program that would more than double state allotments to cover children while streamlining the eligibility process. Read more »