The business of providing mammograms has been in steady decline in recent years as many clinics have opted out of the screening business because of low insurance reimbursements. For many of the hospitals and free-standing radiology clinics that perform mammograms, the service has become a loss leader, a way to attract patients who might then receive other services. Health insurers, including the federal Medicare program, have said they were unlikely to change coverage of mammograms in the immediate wake of new guidelines issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, the New York Times reports. The new guidelines recommend that women in their 40s no longer have annual mammograms and that women ages 50 to 74 have them only every other year instead of annually.
In response to news reports of unusually high wholesale price increases in brand-name prescription drugs, Democrats in Congress asked for two separate investigations of drug industry pricing as they continue working on legislation to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. Although drug makers challenge the theory, some experts say the run-up in wholesale prices may be partly related to the industry's concerns about future cost containment under any healthcare legislation, the New York Times reports.
Conservatives have opened a new front in the healthcare debate with the assertion that under the Democrats' plan, people who refuse to buy health insurance could spend five years in prison. Supporters of a health overhaul called that a scare tactic along the lines of last summer's uproar over "death panels," and said that scenario would virtually never happen, the Wall Street Journal reports. The notion has its origins in the bill's requirement that most Americans must get health insurance, with the help of government subsidies if necessary, or pay a special income tax of up to 2.5%. If someone refuses to get insurance and refuses to pay the tax, that person would be guilty of tax evasion.
Across the country, businesses already strapped by the economy to turn a profit are sacrificing or scaling back employee health insurance plans because of their escalating costs. The crunch has particularly hurt smaller employers, who have become a centerpiece in the debate over how to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, the Associated Press reports. Both the House and Senate versions would offer temporary tax credits to offset a portion of the health insurance costs for businesses with fewer than 25 employees and average wages of less than $40,000. Small businesses also could more easily shop for policies through a new health insurance exchange.
White House budget director Peter Orszag pushed back against the notion that the healthcare overhaul will add to the deficit. Orszag said that the healthcare overhaul needs four main pillars that will put the system on a more sustainable path: (1) deficit neutrality, (2) an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans, (3) an independent Medicare commission, and (4) delivery system reforms. The budget chief said that the four main issues will underpin a better system, but "execution is crucially important to success," the Wall Street Journal reports.
As Illinois' insurance director, Michael McRaith has a conflicting job: His office is charged with protecting Illinois consumers in their insurance transactions, while making sure their premiums are set high enough to keep the reserves of health plans well-funded. The Illinois Department of Insurance helps to oversee a healthcare system that has allowed insurance companies to essentially dictate how much consumers are charged and what kind of benefits they get. But that would change under healthcare bills making their way through Congress. McRaith, along with other state insurance directors, would be given unprecedented powers in helping to decide the benefits and cost of health plans for the proposed government-regulated insurance exchange. Under the bill passed by the House this month, insurance policies largely geared to those without coverage would be offered on an exchange, or insurance marketplace, to help consumers purchase health plans, many using newly created federal subsidies.