Governor Peter Shumlin and other senior state officials are going ahead with plans to ask for changes to federal rules in order to create a new system for paying health care providers. The state is asking for changes to federal Medicaid and Medicare rules to enable it to institute an "all-payer model." The aim is to get away from health providers being paid for individual visits and procedures, and instead give them a set budget with the goal of keeping a certain population healthy. Shumlin and other officials say they think they can stop health care costs from outpacing growth in the general economy.
The idea of a single-payer healthcare system has come back into prominence lately with the release of a single-payer healthcare proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. But what would it mean for doctors?
Donald Trump is calling for Medicare to be able to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices, a policy long backed by Democrats and opposed by Republicans. The Republican presidential candidate told a crowd in Farmington, N.H., Monday night that the policy would save billions of dollars before taking a shot at pharmaceutical companies, which strongly oppose the proposal. "We don't do it. Why? Because of the drug companies,” Trump said, according to The Associated Press. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, as well as President Obama, have called for the same policy of letting Medicare negotiate prices, which it is currently banned from doing under the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law.
Despite continued Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare, a key component of the law that has given millions of people health coverage — Medicaid expansion — could prove very difficult to undo, experts say. A growing number of states have signed up for that expansion of the government-run program for poor people, or are discussing doing so. Hospitals are becoming accustomed to the money that comes with expansion, and a majority of new enrollees are saying they are happy with their coverage. The difficulty of getting rid of Medicaid expansion, which uses federal dollars to give health benefits to previously ineligible adults, was sharply underscored this fall by the election of ardent Obamacare foe Matt Bevin as governor of Kentucky.
UCare's pain over a lost state contract has resulted in big enrollment gains for two rival health insurers. The HMO division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota added about 162,000 members in state public health insurance programs between December and January, according to new state data, while Minnetonka-based Medica added 120,000. Minneapolis-based UCare, meanwhile, lost about 343,000 enrollees, according to a report posted earlier this month by the state Department of Human Services. The numbers provide a first look at how the market is changing after UCare lost most of its massive contract with the state to manage care for the largest portions of the Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare insurance programs.
Millions of young adults healthy enough to think they don't need insurance face painful choices this year as the sign-up deadline approaches for President Barack Obama's health care law. Fines for being uninsured rise sharply in 2016 — averaging nearly $1,000 per household, according to an independent estimate. It's forcing those in their 20s and 30s to take a hard look and see if they can squeeze in coverage to avoid penalties. Many are trying to establish careers or just make progress in a still-bumpy economy. "There's only so far one can dwindle a ramen-noodle diet," said Christopher Rael of Los Angeles.