Medicaid
Commentary
A solution to Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 26, 2015
Commentary
Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem gets worse
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 19, 2015
Commentary
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders plans will gut Medicare Part D
Hillary Clinton just released her plan to restructure Medicare “Part D,” a program that provides affordable prescription drug insurance to 37 million Americans. Clinton’s proposal comes hot on the heels of Bernie Sanders’ bill, S. 2023, which would likewise radically alter Medicare Part D by allowing federal officials to negotiate ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 15, 2015
Commentary
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 8, 2015
Commentary
Walker Trumps the GOP Presidential Field in Healthcare Reform
Donald Trump may lead the Republican presidential candidates in the polls today. But he doesn’t lead the pack in ideas for how to replace Obamacare. At the recent GOP debate, Trump said he believed in single-payer healthcare. “It works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland.” The business mogul ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 8, 2015
Commentary
Four Healthcare Questions for the GOP Presidential Contenders
The U.S. healthcare system is a mess. Premiums and deductibles are soaring. Consumers have fewer choices when it comes to doctors and hospitals. And the United States could be short 90,000 physicians within a decade. Voters want to know how the next president will reverse these trends. Yet the 24 ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 8, 2015
Commentary
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 27, 2015
California
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
John R. Graham
August 18, 2015
Commentary
The Doctor Won’t See You Now
Only three in ten enrollees in Obamacare’s exchanges report being satisfied with their health coverage, according to a new poll from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Among the primary reasons for these poor numbers? Many exchange policies limit patients’ choices of doctors and hospitals in order to keep premiums ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 10, 2015
Commentary
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage Emergency room usage has spiked in recent years. That’s the depressing finding from a new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians — and it’s endangering those who need emergency care. The survey concluded that three in four ER doctors ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 7, 2015
A solution to Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem gets worse
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders plans will gut Medicare Part D
Hillary Clinton just released her plan to restructure Medicare “Part D,” a program that provides affordable prescription drug insurance to 37 million Americans. Clinton’s proposal comes hot on the heels of Bernie Sanders’ bill, S. 2023, which would likewise radically alter Medicare Part D by allowing federal officials to negotiate ...
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Walker Trumps the GOP Presidential Field in Healthcare Reform
Donald Trump may lead the Republican presidential candidates in the polls today. But he doesn’t lead the pack in ideas for how to replace Obamacare. At the recent GOP debate, Trump said he believed in single-payer healthcare. “It works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland.” The business mogul ...
Four Healthcare Questions for the GOP Presidential Contenders
The U.S. healthcare system is a mess. Premiums and deductibles are soaring. Consumers have fewer choices when it comes to doctors and hospitals. And the United States could be short 90,000 physicians within a decade. Voters want to know how the next president will reverse these trends. Yet the 24 ...
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
The Doctor Won’t See You Now
Only three in ten enrollees in Obamacare’s exchanges report being satisfied with their health coverage, according to a new poll from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Among the primary reasons for these poor numbers? Many exchange policies limit patients’ choices of doctors and hospitals in order to keep premiums ...
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage Emergency room usage has spiked in recent years. That’s the depressing finding from a new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians — and it’s endangering those who need emergency care. The survey concluded that three in four ER doctors ...