House Republicans and Democrats expressed hope that a hearing on the growing burden of long-term care for seniors will lead to legislation. But as in previous years, the two parties' differences on the issue may be insurmountable. Republicans favor offering tax incentives for people to buy private long-term care insurance policies, which now pay only about 3 percent of the estimated $200 billion spent annually on the services, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). But Democrats say the insurance policies currently on the market aren't attractive to consumers and that long-term care should be covered by a government "social insurance" plan, much like Social Security. Read more »
Despite indications that the administration is on the verge of a deal with Sen. Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., on Medicaid cuts, budget negotiators still must resolve a series of tough issues if they hope to consider a conference report before the Senate departs for a one-week recess April 29. It appears that Smith has an agreement from the administration to appoint a commission to study implementing the Medicaid cuts that would be assumed as part of a budget conference report's reconciliation instructions to the Senate Finance Committee. Read more »
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a strong proponent of private plan options in Medicare, surprised many observers by voting to recommend trimming billions of dollars private plans are supposed to receive under the Medicare overhaul law (PL 108-173). The influential panel agreed to the recommendations even though the private plan side of Medicare has only just begun to recover from several years of upheaval. Dozens of plans quit the program, leaving hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries to find new options. Read more »
Seven out of 10 employers expect to offer "consumer-driven" health plans, such as health savings accounts (HSAs) by next year, but those plans will do little to reduce the ranks of the uninsured, according to studies released Wednesday. A survey conducted by the Federation of American Hospitals and the American Hospital Association found that a "competitive marketplace" is evolving for plans such as HSAs. But two other reports—supported by The Commonwealth Fund—predicted that HSAs would do little to lower the number of uninsured Americans. Read more »
Harnessing the power of evidence-based medicine to determine the effectiveness of prescription drugs is an emerging and imperfect art, but refining it could help health care purchasers determine the best drug for the best price, experts said. "That level of information is critical to a functional marketplace around pharmaceuticals," said Mark Gibson, deputy director of the Center for Evidence-based policy at the Oregon Health and Science University. Without such data, "it is very difficult to foster competition in the [pharmaceutical] industry," Gibson said at a Capitol Hill forum sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund. Read more »