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CBO: US Federal Healthcare Spending Set To Double Over Next Decade.

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:08:16 +0000

Modern Healthcare (2/1/12) reports, “Federal healthcare spending is projected to more than double in the coming decade, according to federal budget projections (pdf).” Specifically, “total federal healthcare spending on so-called mandatory programs — including on Medicare and Medicaid — will grow from $847 billion in the current fiscal year to $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).” The piece points out, “The provisions of the 2010 federal healthcare law that will have spending impacts include new state health insurance exchanges, on which the federal government will spend $645 billion over the 10-year span. Also, the law’s Medicaid provisions are projected to drive growth in its enrollment from 67 million to 95 million people and federal spending on it from $275 billion to $605 billion over the next 10 years.”

“If healthcare costs aren’t contained and taxes stay at roughly their current levels, the debt will climb to ‘unsupportable’ levels, CBO warned,” The Hill (1/31/12) “Healthwatch” blog pointed out. “The aging population is the single biggest driver of CBO’s projected increase in healthcare spending. The budget office expects Medicare spending to rise 90 percent between now and 2022 – and that’s assuming Congress signs off on Medicare cuts that, in reality, lawmakers always prevent.”

S&P Predicts Healthcare Spending In Industrialized Countries Will Double In Next 40 Years. The Financial Times (2/1/12) reports that in the next four decades, spending on healthcare in many industrialized countries will nearly double if nothing is done to control spending. In an analysis report published yesterday by Standard & Poor’s, experts projected that in Germany, the UK, the US and in France, healthcare costs may end up as 11.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050, compared to 2010’s figure of 6.3% of GDP. Reasons for the increased spending include increasing longevity, the cost of advances in technology, and generous health insurance coverage.

Aging US Driving Demand For Healthcare Workers.

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:05:06 +0000

Bloomberg News (2/2/12) reports on the positive economic impact of a growing elderly population in the US, which, along with “rising health-care spending,” is “driving demand for workers from nursing aides to surgeons. While the economy lost 7.5 million positions during the recession, health care expanded staff. Together with social assistance, it will add more than 5.6 million employees to become the largest job gainer by 2020, according to new projections released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

House Votes To Repeal CLASS Act.

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:03:28 +0000

The Washington Times (2/2/12) reports, “The House voted Wednesday to repeal a part of President Obama’s health care law deemed unsustainable by his own administration, sending the bill to the Senate, where Democrats have indicated they aren’t ready to kill the long-term care program.” Notably, “more than two dozen House Democrats broke party ranks to join Republicans in a 267-159 vote to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act.” The Times adds that “Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius effectively suspended the program last fall, conceding she couldn’t find a way to make it pay for itself.”

Many With Preexisting Medical Conditions Cannot Switch To PCIPs.

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:31:05 +0000

The Washington Post /Kaiser Health News (1/31/12) reports on “more than 220,000 people” with preexisting medical conditions who are stuck in “35 state high-risk pools that were in existence before the overhaul was passed” and who are unable to switch to the new “preexisting-condition insurance plans” (PCIPs) created by healthcare reform. The problem facing many such people is that “to qualify for a PCIP, they must first be uninsured for six months,” and many are “not willing to be uninsured for six months.”

Insurer-Provider Disputes Said To Be Increasingly Common.

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:29:31 +0000

The Philadelphia Inquirer (1/30/12) reports, “Negotiation battles between hospitals or doctors and insurers that go down to the wire – and beyond it – have become more common in recent years as insurance companies have faced more pressure from subscribers and employers to curb costs.” For instance, “up to 10,000 Aetna subscribers are caught in the middle of a contract fight between the insurance company and a 19-member cardiology group that says it provides most of the heart care at Abington Memorial Hospital.” Last year, Independence Blue Cross was involved in “disputes…that left two significant urology groups out of its network.”

Poll Shows Most Americans Think Individual Mandate Will Be Struck Down.

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:11:12 +0000

Sarah Kliff writes in the Washington Post (1/27/12) “Wonkblog” that most Americans “expect” the US Supreme Court to rule against the Affordable Care Act’s provision requiring people to purchase health insurance, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll released yesterday. Less than a third of respondents think that piece of the legislation will be upheld, “and that number drops to 17 percent when individuals are asked about how they would personally rule on the issue,” Kliff writes.

Politico (1/27/12) reports the poll indicates the American public wants to keep the law in place, but lose the individual mandate. “The survey found that 54 percent of Americans want the Supreme Court to get rid of the requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance. But only 40 percent want the law to be repealed completely or replaced with a Republican alternative.”

CQ (1/27/12) reports “the pessimistic outlook on the court decision on the individual mandate, combined with continuing lackluster approval ratings for the overall law, would seem to show that in the nearly two years since the law was passed the Obama administration has stopped short of closing the sale when it comes to a sweeping plan for changing the nation’s health care system.”

The Wall Street Journal (1/27/12) reports the poll could shape the upcoming Republican primary and presidential elections. The Journal notes that GOP disapproval of the law is more intense than Democratic support for it. The poll found that 57 percent of Republicans hold a very unfavorable view of the legislation, while only 35 percent of Democrats said their view was very favorable. According to the Journal, the poll also found that a plurality of Republican voters don’t view the state healthcare legislation passed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as being too similar to the 2010 Federal law. Thirty percent of Republicans said they thought Romney’s position on healthcare is similar or very similar to President Obama’s; 49 percent said the two positions are different or very different.

Missouri Senate Endorses Legislation To Prevent Insurance Exchange.

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:30:03 +0000

The AP (1/25/12) reports, “Missouri’s Republican-led Senate endorsed legislation Tuesday aimed at preventing the state from implementing part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.” The piece notes, “The legislation given initial approval Tuesday would block Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon from creating an exchange by executive order, instead requiring legislative or voter approval before Missouri could take steps to set up an insurance exchange.”

SCOTUS Will Not Hear Arguments On Kagan’s Healthcare Challenge Recusal.

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:28:24 +0000

The AP (1/24/12) reports that the Supreme Court “won’t hear arguments from a conservative watchdog group that wants Justice Elena Kagan disqualified from deciding the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s national health care overhaul. Freedom Watch asked the high court for time to demand Kagan’s recusal or disqualification during arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

Politico (1/24/12) reports, “Freedom Watch, a group led by Larry Klayman, asked the court for permission to file a brief on Kagan’s participation in the case. The court on Monday denied the request without comment, though it did note that Kagan did not participate in the discussion.”

The Hill (1/24/12) reports in its “Healthwatch” blog, “Her absence from Monday’s order does not indicate that Kagan is likely to heed calls for her recusal. She has taken part in all of the procedural decisions related to the healthcare challenge itself. Conservative groups say Kagan should sit out the case because she led the office that began preparing the Obama administration’s healthcare defense before she was tapped for the high court.”

Siegel: Doctors Becoming “Wary” Of Healthcare Reform Law.

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:47:59 +0000

In USA Today (1/19/12), Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Medical Center, writes, “The final verdict may not be in yet, but some of the early returns on ‘ObamaCare’ are not good. Indeed, many doctors are becoming wary of the law at a time when only one in three Americans support it.” Siegel argues, “We’re two years into this experiment, and the realities of the law – more regulations, more patients with low-paying insurance, higher costs but lower payments to doctors – are sinking in.”

Healthcare Reform Supporters Cautious Over Supreme Court Decision.

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:46:39 +0000

The Hill (1/19/12) reports in its “Healthwatch” blog, “Supporters of President Obama’s healthcare reform have lost the high level of confidence they once displayed that the Supreme Court would throw out constitutional challenges to the law’s individual mandate.” The tone is said to have “shifted significantly since the Supreme Court devoted nearly six hours to arguments in the case – a modern record.”