Selected stories from the daily newsletter
CQ HealthBeat from the week of October 10, 2011. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
newsletter archive.
The Obama administration will stop implementation of a controversial long-term care program included in last year's health care overhaul after determining they cannot find a way to make it fiscally sound and still meet the law's requirements. Read more »
Blue Shield of California announced that it would be returning $295 million to its customers this year, fulfilling its pledge to limit net income to 2 percent of revenue. White House officials credited the health care overhaul while at least one veteran analyst called the move a public relations stunt. Read more »
The accountable care organization (ACO) proposal issued earlier this year by Medicare officials was slammed hard from all sides and even labeled "unworkable" by one top hospital industry official. Read more »
House Democrats who specialize in health care policy called on the joint deficit reduction committee to preserve Medicare and Medicaid and fix Medicare's flawed physician reimbursement formula, while offering up familiar health care savings proposals. Read more »
The health care law aims to spur competition among insurers to lower premium costs for individuals and small employers by creating state health insurance exchanges, but in many instances, there aren't that many insurers around to compete, a new study suggests. Read more »
A former Medicare administrator expressed some doubts about whether the committee charged with reaching a deal on deficit reduction can come up with a plan that can pass Congress. Read more »