News
CNN: Money | Phantom pharmacy - A growing health care fraud
Like a nasty bug, a new fraud is spreading through the health care system. Criminal enterprises posing as pharmacies are billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers for fake prescriptions and bilking health care out of millions of dollars, federal officials say.
CNN: Money | Why can't we fix Medicare once and for all?
We can try to fix Medicare in two ways. One is a proven winner, the other a proven loser. The stakes could scarcely be higher -- and right now we're betting on the loser.
Econ Comments
Politico | Give patients control of health care
Trustees of the Sociazl Security and Medicare trust funds released a report on the tow programs' finanical status and news awas not good: Medicare is likely to go bankrupt by 2024 - five years earlier than last year's estimate.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Shocking Study Results Reveal Moral Imperative to Fix Medicaid
The results were jaw-dropping. While specialists turned away 11 percent of privately insured children, 66 percent of children with Medicaid were unable to get an appointment. For those who did, the waiting time was 22 days longer than for other patients.
Reports
NBER | The Doctor Might See You Now: The Supply Side Effects of Public Health Insurance Expansions
In the United States, public health insurance programs cover over 90 million individuals. Changes in the scope of these programs, such as the Medicaid expansions under the recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, may have large effects on physician behavior. This study finds that following the implementation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, physicians decreased the number of hours spent with patients, but increased their participation in the expanded program.
