FixHealthCarePolicy

The Shameless Medicare Propaganda Continues

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued what it is calling a “report” on the supposed improvements to Medicare passed as part of Obamacare.

The first thing to note here is that this so-called “report” isn’t really a report at all. It provides no new information; it shouldn’t generate any news, as it contains no news. It’s just a rehash of administration talking points, half-truths, and deceptive arguments, repeated many times previously, based on cost estimates produced by the chief actuary of the Medicare program in April and by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in March.

So why is HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius touting this so-called “report” four months after the law’s passage and scheduling a conference call about it with reporters? (more…)

Tags: Congressional Budget Office, Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Medicare

Another Public Option? How Many Do We Need?

The public option has reared its head once again. Last week, H.R. 5808 was introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee to add a public option to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The plan would be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Payment rates for providers would be set at Medicare rates plus 5 percent and would grow according to increasing physicians’ costs. The plan would be required to maintain solvency, so premiums would have to cover benefits offered and administrative costs.

Momentarily setting aside the major drawbacks of a public plan, this legislation isn’t necessary—the PPACA already lays the groundwork for a robust public option. The new law will allow the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which currently oversees federal employees’ health benefits, to administer plans in the exchanges. These plans would be offered by private insurers but run by unelected government officials. (more…)

Tags: limited choice, Medicaid, Medicare, Office of Personnel Management, public option

Obamacare Is Not Entitlement Reform

The United States faces financial collapse due to out-of-control government spending, and entitlement programs have a lot to do with it. Washington has promised more than it could ever possibly deliver.

Medicare in particular puts the government on the hook for $38 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, and reform to address this is sorely needed. Change must address not only spending but also the system by which the program operates, which currently encourages inefficient use of health services. This trend has penetrated the health care system at large.

According to the Obama Administration, the health care overhaul passed in March addressed the need for entitlement reform. However, at a recent event hosted by the Galen Institute, expert James Capretta introduced his research that shows that this is not the case. (more…)

Tags: bend cost curve, entitlement reform, financial collapse, Medicare, unfunded liabilities

Side Effects: Obamacare Could Punish Docs for Better Quality Care

“Pay-for-performance” medicine has gained popularity in recent years, and Obamacare makes it a reality for Medicare enrollees. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Pay-for-performance allows third parties to pay physicians based on treatment outcomes. In theory, this sounds like a great way to encourage doctors to improve outcomes. But in practice, it’s a bit more complex.

To determine payments, payers must use some sort of yardstick to measure outcomes. Medicare has done this for years. Its hospital and physician quality reporting programs require health care providers to report on government-chosen quality measures or face reduced reimbursement rates. (more…)

Tags: Cleveland Clinic, Medicare, ObamaCare, pay-for-performance, Side Effects

Side Effects: Obamacare Shifts Costs to the Privately Insured

President Obama promised to address the growing costs in health care with passage of his “reform” bill. But instead of reducing costs, Obamacare will succeed only at shifting the burden to taxpayers and the privately insured. Americans with private health insurance will indirectly subsidize care received by those reliant on Medicare and Medicaid. It is for this reason that for many Americans, Obamacare will actually cause medical costs to rise. Some reform, right.

A recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the rate of growth in medical costs will slow to 9.0% in 2011, down from 9.5% in 2010. However, this good news is tempered by the complexity of the responsible factors, a combination of inflators and deflators. Medical costs will decrease as consumers of health care make more responsible decisions, due to greater use of consumer-driven health plans, as generic drugs gain more market share, and as government subsidies for COBRA, enacted as part of the stimulus, expire. (more…)

Tags: COBRA, consumer-driven health plans, health care costs, Medicaid, Medicare, ObamaCare, Side Effects

CBO: Obamacare Unlikely to Reduce Spending on Health Care

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its annual long-term Budget Outlook, which provides a look at mandatory federal spending on health care after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

One may have expected to see drastic changes after the passage of Obamacare. After all, this legislation was supposed to reduce costs and overall health spending. However, the CBO’s report highlights the unlikelihood that cost-containment strategies included in the new law will ever come to fruition.

In its projections, CBO looks at two scenarios. The extended-baseline scenario assumes that current law will occur as written. The second, more likely occurrence, is the alternative fiscal scenario, which makes realistic assumptions about the future behavior of lawmakers. For example, the extended-baseline scenario assumes that a 21 percent reduction to physician payments under Medicare will actually occur. But since its inception in 1997, these reductions have been suspended every year, known as the “doc fix.” Just days ago, Congress suspended the payment reductions for another six months, and you can be sure they will suspend it again when it expires in the future. The alternative fiscal scenario accounts for this. (more…)

Tags: Congressional Budget Office, federal health spending, Medicare, ObamaCare, unsustainable

Side Effects: White House Misses Deadline for High-Risk Pools

We’ve all heard it before — the age-old saying “Better late than never.” Well, get ready to hear it again, this time from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, regarding the creation of high-risk pools under Obamacare.

The pools were supposed to provide coverage for individuals who cannot get health insurance due to chronic illness. Obamacare slated the establishment of the pools to occur no later than 90 days after the legislation passed on March 23. This past Monday marked day 90, and the pools remain nowhere to be found.

Covering the uninsured and those who need it most was advertised as one of the top priorities for the congressional majority’s health care agenda, so it’s hard to understand how Secretary Sebelius could have overlooked such an important deadline. After all, it’s her job to implement Obamacare.

(more…)

Tags: high-risk pools, implementation, Medicare, ObamaCare, Side Effects

Congressional Gimmicks leave Doctors and Taxpayers in a Lurch

The Senate voted 45-52 yesterday to oppose the $140 billion so-called “extenders bill” (HR 4213). The Hill is reporting that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is going to offer a slimmed down version for consideration as early as today. Two key health provisions of the bill are expected to be a continued bailout of state Medicaid programs and a temporary Medicare ‘Doc Fix’.

The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), initiated in 1997, links the increase in Medicare reimbursement rates to growth in GDP. Since medical costs historically increase at a rate more than twice GDP, the SGR reduces the real payments physicians receive. A temporary “fix” has happened nine times in nine years to increase Medicare rates above SGR levels. Temporary fixes are the easy way out for politicians because they appear less costly to budget.

The Hill reports that Senator Baucus is going to use a budgetary trick by paring down the “doc fix” from 19 months to 6 months. Of course, this means that the budgetary cost of the bill will appear smaller, but in reality the only difference is that Congress will have to revisit this issue in 6 months instead of 19 months – kicking the can down the road once again. (more…)

Tags: doc fix, federal spending, Medicare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Sustainable Growth Rate, tax extenders bill

Lessons from Canada: Stay Away from Nationalized Medicine

The United States isn’t the only country in North America grappling with the fiscal problems caused by an aging population and mounting federal deficits—Canada faces a similar fate. The difference is that, while the United States just passed a $1 trillion-plus government overhaul of health care, incorrectly justified by claims that it will reduce health care spending, Canada’s provinces are trying to figure out how to pay for their nationalized health care system, a major source of out-of-control growth in government spending.

Reuters reports that each province is scavenging for its own fix. In Ontario, the solution will be severe price controls for generic drugs. British Columbia is looking at a fee-for-service payment system. And Quebec implemented a new flat health tax.

This will just be the beginning of tightened belt straps for Canadians’. According to Derek Burleton, a senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, “We can’t continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services…At some stage we’re going to hit a breaking point.” (more…)

Tags: Canada, entitlement reform, government spending, Medicaid, Medicare, nationalized medicine