CBO Report Could Be Game Changer for SGR Overhaul

Buried deep inside a Congressional Budget Office(CBO) report released last week is an estimate that overhauling the Medicare physician payment formula known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR) over the next decade would cost just $138 billion. Read more »

CBO: Medicare Spending Growth Rate Slowest in More Than a Decade

Medicare outlays grew by just 3 percent in fiscal 2012, the slowest rate of growth since 2000, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. Read more »

White House Renominates Tavenner to Head CMS

The White House renominated Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week, hoping to put a permanent administrator atop the agency for the first time in seven years. Read more »

Sebelius Praises Kasich Backing of Medicaid Expansion

Last week Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich became the fifth Republican governor to announce support for expanding Medicaid, a decision that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called "a great step forward." Read more »

Michigan Republican Governor Wants Medicaid Expansion

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently joined five other Republican governors in supporting an expansion of Medicaid in his state. Read more »

CMS Officials Postpone Basic Health Program for One Year

Federal officials are delaying until 2015 the Basic Health Program, a health care overhaul option that would allow states to use federal tax subsidies to help cover low-income people whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid. Read more »