Archive for July, 2007
It Should Be an Easy Choice
Monday, July 30th, 2007There has been a lot of activity in the SCHIP/Medicare debate in the House last week and today in the full Senate. Kaiser Daily Health Report has a nice editorial roundup of the debate. But we’ve also seen a number of blog discussions in which it’s clear even those who are paying attention to this [...]
This is a Debate to Watch
Thursday, July 26th, 2007Two key House Committees are debating important “CHAMP” legislation which reauthorizes and improves the State Children’s Health Insurance program while also making desperately needed reforms to the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, including the elimination of Medicare Advantage subsidies to private insurers. This is very important legislation for seniors and children alike. You can watch [...]
Intergenerational Approach?
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007Tomorrow the House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider legislation that would reauthorize and expand SCHIP and make revisions to Medicare. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to take up the legislation on Thursday. While the Senate SCHIP bill does not include Medicare provisions, Congress Daily reports that the House bill would increase [...]
Clearing the Fog
Friday, July 20th, 2007Thanks to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities for “Informing the Debate About Curbing Medicare Advantage Overpayments“. That’s the name of a wonderfully simple primer on Medicare Advantage which answers all of the basic questions about these private Medicare plans and the multi-billion dollar price tag they bring. If you’re wondering what’s really going [...]
Insurer Profits Up (again) While Seniors & Taxpayers Pay the Price
Thursday, July 19th, 2007Not only are insurers receiving billions in government subsidies to operate private Medicare plans but new profit numbers out this week show business is very good if you’re an insurance company with a piece of the Medicare privatization pie. “UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, said profit rose 22 percent on gains from [...]
Getting the Word Out on Medicare ‘Disadvantage’ Plans
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007We’ve been talking and writing and writing and talking about the privatization of Medicare. While a lot of our outreach has been with our National Committee members, seniors nationwide and grassroots work, today we went straight to Congressional staff. Today’s briefing focused on those policy influencers who need to understand what Medicare Advantage overpayments are [...]
Who Needs Health Care Reform…We Have ER’s
Friday, July 13th, 2007Breaking down President’s Bush words is always a mind-boggling task, in fact some would argue it could probably be a job unto itself. For that reason, we don’t usually go there. This time however, the President’s view on healthcare reform…delivered before a friendly audience of Cleveland business leaders (the meeting wasn’t open to the public) [...]
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
by Barbara B. Kennelly, NCPSSM President/CEO Imagine starting a business with a guaranteed 12 percent to 50 percent federal subsidy not available to your competition. The cost of that subsidy is then passed on to your competitor’s customers. And finally, let’s add restrictions to your competitors that don’t apply to your new business. Sounds like [...]
Healthcare and Medicare…Inextricably Linked
Thursday, July 5th, 2007As the years pass and healthcare costs continue to skyrocket unchecked, it’s become clear we can’t fulfill our goal of preserving Medicare without system wide healthcare reform. So, that brings us to the universal healthcare debate. The Bush administration opposes this idea because, as we’ve seen with the privatization of Medicare and the on-going attempts [...]