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'Fiscal cliff' deal: What will the compromise look like?

Right now, news reports indicate that neither side shows much inclination toward making concessions, but a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll indicates that Americans want lawmakers and the White House to reach an agreement. Analysts predict a softening of positions as the deadline for automatic tax increases and spending cuts approaches.

14 Dec 2012

Liberal Dems line up against raising Medicare's eligibility age

Proposals to raise the eligibility age continue to get traction in the fiscal negotiations between the White House and Congress. But liberal Democrats oppose it and express concern that President Barack Obama has not ruled out.

14 Dec 2012

Study examines Medicare out-of-pocket expenses in the last 5 years of life

Should your 82-year-old dad, who has been declining after a stroke, get hip surgery after a fall? Would your 43-year-old sister, fighting late-stage cancer, benefit from an experimental drug that could have serious side effects? These are wrenching decisions.

14 Dec 2012

Question for physicians, politicians: Is 'doc fix' part of Capitol Hill negotiations?

Medical providers are hoping that part of the fiscal cliff negotiations includes adjusting the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for Medicare.

14 Dec 2012

Longer looks: 'Reckless' drug prescriptions lead to patient deaths; The struggles to reopen NY hospitals

Dr. Carlos Estiandan was up to no good, and the medical board of California was on to him. He prescribed powerful painkillers to addicts who had no medical need for them, conducted sham examinations and appeared to be a key supplier for drug dealers, according to court records. He wrote more prescriptions than the entire staffs of some hospitals and took in more than $1 million a year.

14 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Politicians flirting with danger on Medicare eligibility age; Maybe doctors should be paid less

The 2010 health- care law, which imposed immediate and heavy cuts on hospitals, drugmakers and insurers, left doctors relatively untouched. A 1997 law that reduces doctors' Medicare payments is consistently overridden by Congress.

14 Dec 2012

Aetna CEO predicts some 'premium rate shock' because of health law provisions; More Medicare ACOs expected in 2013

In news about the health law, Bloomberg reports that Aetna's Mark Bertolini says premiums for individuals and small businesses could as much as double in 2014 and Modern Healthcare examines what's ahead for the accountable care organizations next year.

13 Dec 2012

BioScrip to acquire HomeChoice

BioScrip, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HomeChoice Partners, Inc., a leading provider of alternate-site infusion pharmacy services, for $70.0 million in cash.

13 Dec 2012

Roadmap outlines steps that are necessary to improve healthcare delivery in the U.S.

Regardless of what you think about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also called Obama Care, healthcare in the U.S. needs a major overhaul. That overhaul began with ACA, and now additional changes are going to be needed in order to make healthcare more economically sustainable in the U.S.

13 Dec 2012

Fiscal talks continue with new round of proposals, finger-pointing

With the deadline looming, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boener, R-Ohio, traded new fiscal offers but appeared no closer to a deal. Boehner is pushing for more specifics on how Obama would cut safety net programs, while the White House continues to press for tax increases for the wealthy.

13 Dec 2012

Liberal Democrats pledge to protect Medicaid

Some Democrats argue that cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance coverage to low-income Americans, should not be part of the fiscal negotiations.

13 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Pelosi says higher Medicare age 'doesn't work;' Marketplace's clout could lower seniors' drug costs

In the talks to avert the fiscal cliff, the idea of raising the Medicare age is central to the Republican proposal. There's just one critical problem: It doesn't work. It doesn't have public support. It's unfair. And it doesn't lower health expenditures. Such a proposal is a reflection of the broader Republican plan: an assault on the middle class, seniors -- and our future.

12 Dec 2012

Hospice use driven by finance rather than patient eligibility

Barriers to hospice care in the USA could be more to do with individual hospices' enrollment policies than with patients’ true eligibility, indicate study findings.

12 Dec 2012

The argument for vision insurance

Individuals with vision insurance are more likely than those without it to have had recent eye care visits, and to have no difficulty reading printed matter or recognizing their friends from across the street, report US researchers.

12 Dec 2012

Six states get an early greenlight on health exchanges from HHS

The Obama administration also gave conditional approval on Monday to six states -- all led by Democratic governors -- that were the first to meet the health law's rules for setting up health insurance marketplaces.

12 Dec 2012

In 'fiscal cliff' talks, Medicare and Medicaid savings ideas draw scrutiny

The Wall Street Journal asks when cuts to these programs will start affecting beneficiaries and causing access issues. Other savings ideas face a burden of proof. Also, The Hill reports that the White House is cooling to the idea of $100 billion in Medicaid cuts floated earlier this year. In the background, news outlets offer reports about progress or lack thereof in averting the looming cliff.

12 Dec 2012

HHS to states: Partial Medicaid expansion won't get full federal funding

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was all or nothing on the health care law's expansion of Medicaid eligibility, disappointing some Republican governors who were considering smaller growth in the state-federal program for the poor and elderly.

12 Dec 2012

Medicaid contractors, government employees doing the same work, GAO says

The Medicaid program has government employees and contractors doing some of the exact same work, which is wasting government time and money, according to a new Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

12 Dec 2012

Astellas, FibroGen commence FG-4592/ASP1517 Phase 3 clinical program in CKD anemia

FibroGen, Inc., and Astellas Pharma Inc., announced today the initiation of the first clinical study in the Phase 3 clinical development program of FG-4592/ASP1517, an orally administered small molecule, for treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease ("CKD") in patients not on dialysis and on dialysis, to support approval in the U.S. and Europe.

12 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Sen. Portman's Rx for deficit talks; Gerson says Obama needs to give Boehner political cover to make a deal

Washington needs to pursue structural reforms in the country's important but unsustainable entitlement programs and in an inefficient, outdated tax code. By doing so, lawmakers can responsibly avoid the immediate cliff while addressing the long-term fiscal crisis and spurring job creation.

12 Dec 2012

Medicare News and Research

'Fiscal cliff' deal: What will the compromise look like?

Liberal Dems line up against raising Medicare's eligibility age

Study examines Medicare out-of-pocket expenses in the last 5 years of life

Question for physicians, politicians: Is 'doc fix' part of Capitol Hill negotiations?

Longer looks: 'Reckless' drug prescriptions lead to patient deaths; The struggles to reopen NY hospitals

Viewpoints: Politicians flirting with danger on Medicare eligibility age; Maybe doctors should be paid less

Aetna CEO predicts some 'premium rate shock' because of health law provisions; More Medicare ACOs expected in 2013

BioScrip to acquire HomeChoice

Roadmap outlines steps that are necessary to improve healthcare delivery in the U.S.

Fiscal talks continue with new round of proposals, finger-pointing

Liberal Democrats pledge to protect Medicaid

Viewpoints: Pelosi says higher Medicare age 'doesn't work;' Marketplace's clout could lower seniors' drug costs

Hospice use driven by finance rather than patient eligibility

The argument for vision insurance

Six states get an early greenlight on health exchanges from HHS

In 'fiscal cliff' talks, Medicare and Medicaid savings ideas draw scrutiny

HHS to states: Partial Medicaid expansion won't get full federal funding

Medicaid contractors, government employees doing the same work, GAO says

Astellas, FibroGen commence FG-4592/ASP1517 Phase 3 clinical program in CKD anemia

Viewpoints: Sen. Portman's Rx for deficit talks; Gerson says Obama needs to give Boehner political cover to make a deal

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