Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley made clear at the second day of a two-day hearing on Medicaid fraud that he regards the drug industry as a big part of the problem. And he told drugmakers to make sure they do not try to weaken his prized tool for going after fraud, the False Claims Act. Grassley, R-Iowa, also explored witnesses' reactions to a variety of other tactics for reining in Medicaid drug spending, including basing payment on the "ASP" (average sales price) method now in use for some Medicare drugs, and sharing pricing data with the states that is now kept confidential. Read more »
Fiscal 2006 spending approved by the House of Representatives will disappoint those trying to strengthen the nation's health care safety net, with funding for community health centers falling $203.5 million below the sum requested by the Bush administration and lawmakers voting to end the $83 million Healthy Communities Access program. But the spending measure (HR 3010), approved 250–151, contains a huge increase in health care entitlement spending: $54 billion for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, expected to improve health care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, many of them poor. Read more »
As senators reached across the aisle to introduce bipartisan measures to spur health information technology and link Medicare payment to the quality of care delivered, industry and government officials expressed concern that legislation not interfere with existing efforts to accomplish those goals. At a joint press conference, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., and the panel's ranking Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., unveiled legislation that would accelerate the adoption of health care information technology nationwide. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the committee's ranking Democrat, introduced a measure that would link a portion of Medicare's reimbursement for health care services to the quality of care. Read more »
Cost is a major barrier for many Americans when it comes to purchasing health care insurance. For Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., the solution is to allow consumers to buy insurance from any state, a step opponents say will undermine the entire health care system. Shadegg's legislation (HR 2355), the focus of a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, would allow consumers to shop for health care the way they do for other products: via the Internet, through the mail, or over the phone. Consumers would not be limited as they currently are to picking only policies that meet their state's regulations and list of mandated benefits. Read more »
A Commonwealth Fund survey found "broad-based support" for a special health account to pay for health services not covered by Medicare. The national survey found that 69 percent of adults ages 50–70 support deducting 1 percent of their earnings for investment in a Medicare Health Account. The money could be used to help pay for long-term care or other uncovered healthcare expenses. The proposal is "essentially an account that you save your own earnings in," explained Sara Collins, Commonwealth Fund senior officer and lead author of the report. Read more »