Archive for the ‘Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP’ Category
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
The monthly rate of complaints from Medicare beneficiaries about the prescription drug benefit decreased by 74% during the 18-month period that ended on Oct. 31, 2007, according to a report recently released by the Government Accountability Office, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. For the report, GAO examined almost 630,000 ...
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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
The law created a "trigger" that requires action if the Medicare trustees have issued two consecutive reports projecting the program's spending from general revenue would exceed 45 percent. This year, in response to the second consecutive Medicare Trustee report, the President proposed legislation to lengthen the life of the ...
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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
The House on Thursday by a 231-184 vote approved a rule (HRes 1368) that delays consideration of President Bush's Medicare "trigger" bill for the remainder of the 110th Congress, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The resolution does not require Senate action (AP/Arizona Daily Star, 7/25). A provision of the 2003 ...
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Monday, July 28th, 2008
Asian-American immigrants at a town hall discussion in California on Wednesday continued to protest proposed cuts to Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, that would eliminate some health services to documented immigrants, the Oakland Tribune reports (Hill, Oakland Tribune, 7/23). Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) proposal seeks to save about $87 million ...
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Monday, July 28th, 2008
The House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved a measure that would delay consideration of President Bush's Medicare "trigger" bill for the remainder of the 110th Congress, CQ Today reports. A provision of the 2003 Medicare law requires the president to propose a savings measure if the Medicare trustees for two ...
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Sunday, July 27th, 2008
The Medicare law enacted earlier this month to delay for 18 months a 10.6% reduction in physician reimbursements "fails to address the problem with the Medicare payment system, which is not the amounts doctors are paid but the way their payments are calculated," Peter Bach, a physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering ...
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco continues to hear arguments from pharmacists and California health officials about the potential effect of a 10% cut in Medi-Cal prescription drug fees on pharmacies, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medi-Cal is the state's Medicaid program. The state Legislature in ...
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
"The benefits of widespread adoption of interoperable Health Information Technology (HIT) will be significant, leading to a higher standard of quality in the U.S. healthcare system," Yul D. Ejnes, MD, FACP, told the House Ways and Means Committee subcommittee on Health today. "Unfortunately, without adequate financial incentives, small ...
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
AARP's Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Advocacy, issued the following statement on a scheduled vote today in the House of Representatives to consider a bill brought on by the Medicare "trigger":"The Medicare trigger is an unfortunate and misguided effort that could do more harm than good. That's ...
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
The Senate Finance Committee canceled a vote scheduled for Wednesday on a resolution to block Bush administration rules limiting the expansion of SCHIP, after being informed by the Senate parliamentarian that the deadline for "privileged" status of the resolution had passed, CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 7/22). The ...
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Friday, July 25th, 2008
Congress this year likely will pass a second economic stimulus package that includes a temporary increase in the federal medical assistance percentage states receive for Medicaid, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) said on Tuesday during a Health Subcommittee hearing, CQ HealthBeat reports. He said, "I ...
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Friday, July 25th, 2008
The South Carolina Health Information Exchange this month launched a no-cost Web tool that will give health care providers access to the medical histories of state Medicaid beneficiaries, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. Through SCHIEx's password-protected Web site, providers will be able to access a patient's medical history. The ...
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Friday, July 25th, 2008
Amerigroup on Tuesday said it will enter a $225 million settlement agreement with Illinois and the federal government over allegations that it denied coverage to eligible pregnant women, the Baltimore Sun reports (Baltimore Sun, 7/23). Cleveland Tyson, former vice president of government relations at Amerigroup's Illinois subsidiary, in 2002 filed ...
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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
A bipartisan group of 41 senators led by Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Health Subcommittee Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on Thursday proposed a resolution to prevent a SCHIP policy directive issued last year by the Bush administration from taking effect next month, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/18). ...
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Monday, July 21st, 2008
The new Medicare law that passed on Tuesday not only delays for 18 months a 10.6% reduction to physician fees, it also contains provisions that directly affect beneficiaries, the Wall Street Journal reports. The law reduces the copayment for mental health services from 50% to 20%, which is consistent with ...
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