News
National Journal | HHS Awards State Grants for Insurance-Rate Review
Federal officials have awarded $109 million in grants to 28 states and the District of Columbia to beef up their ability to review health-insurance premium increases.
Washington Times | Obama ties Medicare cuts to tax hikes on the rich
Seeking to put his stamp on deficit-reduction talks, President Obama on Monday said he will veto any debt plan that cuts Medicare benefits without also imposing higher taxes on the wealthy, and he embraced a broad call that all millionaires be made to pay an effective higher tax rate on income than middle-class families do.
National Journal | Urban Institute: Save on Health Care by Spending More on Staffing
President Obama has proposed $248 billion in savings from Medicare, much of it from obvious sources, such as asking patients to pay a little more and asking pharmaceutical companies to take a pay cut. But a report from the Urban Institute suggests a counterintuitive move that could also help save money -- spending a little more in administrative costs.`
Econ Comments
NY Times | Preventing Sickness, With Plenty of Red Tape
Prevention has never been the cornerstone of American medicine. In this country, we tend to go to the doctor only when something is wrong, a habit long bemoaned by researchers and medical groups.
AEI | Designed to Fail
The President's Medicare plan contains nothing innovative or new, and does not change the structure of the program. Instead, it focuses on providers, adjusting payments and adding utilization hurdles without changing financial incentives. Most of the ideas were swept up from the CBO budget options book, so they score as savings.
