Senate committee offers a peek at healthcare overhaul

Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2009

One of the first documents that details the Senate's plans to overhaul the healthcare system started trickling out, beginning with a 52-page report that members of the Senate Finance Committee plan to debate. Many of the proposals use Medicare as a testing ground for ideas that could eventually be expanded to the broader market. One of the top points is to provide payment incentives to hospitals that reduce preventable readmissions of patients, and provide a single bundled Medicare payment for certain types of care, instead of paying hospitals for individual tests and services.