The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association urged Congress to pass legislation to create an independent, public–private partnership to compare the effectiveness of medical treatments and technologies. Read more »
The government's creation of a health insurance program for children in 1997 has caused them to leave—or lose—private insurance, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported. But the reasons for the phenomenon are unclear. And CBO Director Peter R. Orszag said it is unavoidable if Congress hopes to reduce the nation's rate of uninsured children. Read more »
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt announced that he has lined up many, if not most, U.S. health care purchasers to fulfill his vision of a highly competitive and much more efficient health care marketplace. Read more »
As the debate heats up over chopping Medicare payments to managed care plans, critics of those plans are charging that they don't deliver what they promise and so shouldn't be paid more than providers in traditional Medicare. Read more »
The Medicare program has the data and the computer capacity to identify individual doctors who are inefficient compared with their peers and may begin contacting them as soon as mid-2008 to goad them to become more efficient, a top federal official testified. Read more »
White House Budget Director Rob Portman warned Congress that he will recommend that President Bush veto fiscal 2008 spending bills if they exceed the administration's request. Congress is in the process of finalizing a fiscal 2008 budget resolution. Read more »