Language in both the House and Senate bills would reward hospitals for efficiency in their Medicare spending. This marks a dramatic change in the formula for distributing the funds, which can account for as much as half of a hospital's budget. That could prove to be a windfall for some hospitals but a significant loss of funding for others, mostly those in big cities and the South, the Washington Post reports. A revised Medicare formula represents a major lobbying victory for a coalition of hospitals based in the upper Midwest, led by the Mayo Clinic. Their leaders sent a letter to House members in July demanding Medicare reform, as well as objecting to a government-run insurance plan, the Post reports.
More than 3 million Illinois residents, particularly those who buy health insurance on their own or get it from a small employer, will have the right to get their denied medical claims reviewed by an independent health expert under legislation signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, the Chicago Tribune reports. The bill allows consumers in state-regulated health plans who are denied a medical claim to request a review by a physician who is independent of the insurance company and at the plan's expense.
About 20% of the claims that Kansas City-area hospitals had submitted to insurers were at least 90 days past due in the middle of last year, according to a report by the Missouri Department of Insurance. The statewide average was about 26%, according to the study, which Gov. Jay Nixon mandated in a Sept. 11 executive order.
Health spending grew in 2008 at the slowest pace in 48 years as the recession held back the growth of health costs, the federal government reported. Health spending topped $2.3 trillion in 2008, up 4.4% from the previous year. But the rate of growth in 2008 was down from 6% in 2007 and an average increase of 7% a year in the decade from 1998 to 2008. Healthcare accounted for 16.2% of the gross domestic product in 2008, up from 15.9% in 2007, according to the report by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC officially ended years of uncontrolled retiree healthcare costs by moving those expenses to three funds that will be supervised by the United Auto Workers union, the Wall Street Journal reports. The trusts stem from an agreement reached between the auto makers and the UAW in 2007 to cut more than $80 billion in healthcare costs. The car companies agreed to create the trusts and make contributions to remove the expenses from their balance sheets. The three auto makers confirmed that the transfer of liabilities to create the UAW's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association were completed within the past few days, reports the Journal.
New Cigna Corp. CEO David Cordani started his tenure focused on overseas business as a key to maintaining the managed care company's improved financial performance, the Associated Press reports. Cordani, 43, replaces retiring Chairman and CEO H. Edward Hanway as the Philadelphia insurer's top executive in a move that was announced last June. Cordani told the Associated Press that the company's top goal "by far and away is to grow the corporation on a global footprint."