News
Market Watch | Medicare fears ripple out to health insurers
Heavy cuts in Medicare payments to nursing-home operators, plus a lingering concern over Medicaid reductions, cast managed-care stocks down by wide margins Monday.
Politico | Medicare providers face cuts
Physicians, home health practitioners and other providers could see an additional 2 percent pay cut on top of double-digit Medicare reductions already slated for 2012 under the debt ceiling deal reached by the White House and congressional leaders late Sunday.
CNN: Money | What health care reform is (and isn't) doing now
Here are answers to common questions about what health care reform is doing right now.
National Journal | HHS Will Require New Insurers to Foot Costs for Birth Control, Domestic Counseling
The Health and Human Services Department accepted a slate of controversial recommendations for women’s health care on Monday, issuing new regulations that will require health insurers to pay for birth-control services, breastfeeding support, and domestic violence screening and counseling.
WSJ | The Soaring Public Health Tab
Government pension liabilities have been in the news, but an even more urgent problem is the skyrocketing cost of health benefits. That's the gist of a new study by Josh Barro of the Manhattan Institute which finds that health-care costs for local and state governments have tripled in 15 years, outpacing the growth in private insurance premiums by about 20%.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Could Britain’s Health Care Rationing Come to the States?
Unfortunately, under current law, Obamacare could lead to a health care system similarly plagued by long waits and reduced access to services.
NRO: The Corner | Cadillac Coverage: The High Cost of Public Employee Health Benefits
Now that we can pretend for a few weeks that we are done with the federal debt deal, it’s time to look at the looming debt crisis in the states: public employees’ health costs.
Heritage Foundation | Cost Shifting on the Increase under Obamacare
In a recent article in Health Affairs, health economist James Robinson reveals that in areas where hospitals consolidate and enjoy a larger market share, providers are more likely to charge higher prices, as low competition gives them a monopoly in delivering patient care in the regio.
