Medicaid
Commentary
Grassley Seeks Probe of Unapproved Drugs
A longtime member of Congress is asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate nearly $200 million the government has spent on unauthorized drugs for Medicaid enrollees since 2004. The drug purchases were discovered during an investigation conducted by the Associated Press. Policy analysts say the lack ...
Commentary
Jindal Proposes Sweeping Medicaid Overhaul
Health Care News – Heartland Institute (Chicago, IL), February 1, 2009 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has unveiled a proposal for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program, altering both its funding and delivery. “It is time for us to do something different, and dramatically different,” said the state’s Health and Hospitals ...
Commentary
Charge health insurance equally
January President Barack Obama and his new health czar, former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, have promised big changes for our health care system. In a number of states, though, many of their government-heavy ideas have already been tried — and failed. Paramount among the proposed changes are “guaranteed issue” and ...
Commentary
Health-care budget realities
Before President-elect Barack Obama attempts to overhaul America’s health-care system and put us on the road toward “universal” coverage, he should have a chat with his new budget director, Peter Orszag. As former head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency responsible for estimating the cost of federal legislation, ...
California
Free(ing) Health Insurance in California?
State senator Sam Aanestad is still rolling out good health-care legislation in the Golden State. A few months ago, he introduced a bill that would improve California’s high-risk pool for health insurance, by allowing its beneficiaries to buy low-premium, consumer-driven policies, and allow different premiums for smokers and the obese ...
Commentary
Lessons from States with “Universal” Health Care
Last January, governor Schwarzenegger’s expensive and unwieldy proposal for so-called “universal” health care finally gasped its last breath, after a long year of lobbying and coalition-building by the governor’s team. A year later, in 2009, legislators should attempt to learn from two states that have legislated “universal” care. Hawaii imposed ...
Commentary
Hospitals’ “Triple Whammy” Demands Reform
The Los Angeles Times reports that California hospitals are suffering a fiscal “triple whammy”: their investments are in the tank; they cannot borrow money in today’s frozen credit markets; and operating revenues have collapsed. Like I wrote in my analysis of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s failed health reform, hospitals’ finances are not ...
Commentary
NY Times Favors State Calculation of “Usual & Customary” Charges
My confidence always rises when the New York Times editorializes from the opposite side of an issue than I occupy. How pleased I was, then, when the editorial board cheered NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo’s “settlement” (of course, I prefer “shakedown”) of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary that compiles proprietary databases, ...
Commentary
UnitedHealth Group: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It looks like UnitedHealth Group’s trials have just begun. Shortly after NY attorney-general, Andrew Cuomo, announced that UHG’s subsidiary, Ingenix, a database-vendor, was happy to pay him $50 million to get off their case, the American Medical Association announced a class-action settlement of $350 million over the same issue: Ingenix’ ...
Commentary
Obama-Daschle “reform” will cripple American health care
Obama-Daschle “reform” will cripple American health care President-elect Barack Obama has promised sweeping changes during his first few months in office. Perhaps the most far-reaching – and troubling – of his proposals is his plan for healthcare reform. Obama has tapped former Sen. Tom Daschle to serve as both the ...
Grassley Seeks Probe of Unapproved Drugs
A longtime member of Congress is asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate nearly $200 million the government has spent on unauthorized drugs for Medicaid enrollees since 2004. The drug purchases were discovered during an investigation conducted by the Associated Press. Policy analysts say the lack ...
Jindal Proposes Sweeping Medicaid Overhaul
Health Care News – Heartland Institute (Chicago, IL), February 1, 2009 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has unveiled a proposal for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program, altering both its funding and delivery. “It is time for us to do something different, and dramatically different,” said the state’s Health and Hospitals ...
Charge health insurance equally
January President Barack Obama and his new health czar, former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, have promised big changes for our health care system. In a number of states, though, many of their government-heavy ideas have already been tried — and failed. Paramount among the proposed changes are “guaranteed issue” and ...
Health-care budget realities
Before President-elect Barack Obama attempts to overhaul America’s health-care system and put us on the road toward “universal” coverage, he should have a chat with his new budget director, Peter Orszag. As former head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency responsible for estimating the cost of federal legislation, ...
Free(ing) Health Insurance in California?
State senator Sam Aanestad is still rolling out good health-care legislation in the Golden State. A few months ago, he introduced a bill that would improve California’s high-risk pool for health insurance, by allowing its beneficiaries to buy low-premium, consumer-driven policies, and allow different premiums for smokers and the obese ...
Lessons from States with “Universal” Health Care
Last January, governor Schwarzenegger’s expensive and unwieldy proposal for so-called “universal” health care finally gasped its last breath, after a long year of lobbying and coalition-building by the governor’s team. A year later, in 2009, legislators should attempt to learn from two states that have legislated “universal” care. Hawaii imposed ...
Hospitals’ “Triple Whammy” Demands Reform
The Los Angeles Times reports that California hospitals are suffering a fiscal “triple whammy”: their investments are in the tank; they cannot borrow money in today’s frozen credit markets; and operating revenues have collapsed. Like I wrote in my analysis of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s failed health reform, hospitals’ finances are not ...
NY Times Favors State Calculation of “Usual & Customary” Charges
My confidence always rises when the New York Times editorializes from the opposite side of an issue than I occupy. How pleased I was, then, when the editorial board cheered NY attorney-general Andrew Cuomo’s “settlement” (of course, I prefer “shakedown”) of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary that compiles proprietary databases, ...
UnitedHealth Group: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It looks like UnitedHealth Group’s trials have just begun. Shortly after NY attorney-general, Andrew Cuomo, announced that UHG’s subsidiary, Ingenix, a database-vendor, was happy to pay him $50 million to get off their case, the American Medical Association announced a class-action settlement of $350 million over the same issue: Ingenix’ ...
Obama-Daschle “reform” will cripple American health care
Obama-Daschle “reform” will cripple American health care President-elect Barack Obama has promised sweeping changes during his first few months in office. Perhaps the most far-reaching – and troubling – of his proposals is his plan for healthcare reform. Obama has tapped former Sen. Tom Daschle to serve as both the ...
