The White House and congressional leaders are facing new resistance on Capitol Hill to rapid movement on healthcare legislation amid concerns about the cost, the political price for raising taxes, and an emerging dispute about whether abortions should be covered. In the Senate, a group of centrist Republicans and Democrats issued a plea for delay.
A Massachusetts commission has recommended that the state dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. The 10-member commission, which includes key legislators and members of Governor Deval Patrick's administration, voted unanimously to largely scrap the current system, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit. The arrangement is widely seen as leading to unneeded tests and procedures.
Under questioning by members of the Senate Budget Committee, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose changes necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare. Instead, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, which already had a storefront operation for more than a year in Pembroke Pines, FL, is preparing a major expansion of five to eight new stores around the state. Blue Cross and many other insurers are pushing hard on individual health plans, the type sold in the stores, because the recession has caused many to lose employer-based group coverage.
President Obama is pressing lawmakers to give up boosting Medicare payments to benefit hometown providers. Setting reimbursement rates for local healthcare providers is a legislative ritual that amounts to one of the most effective and lucrative forms of constituent service. Delivering federal money through Medicare can be a powerful tool on the campaign trail, allowing lawmakers to argue that they are creating jobs and improving the quality of healthcare for voters. Obama administration officials say they are determined to stem soaring Medicare spending.
Boston Medical Center filed suit against the state of Massachusetts, accusing officials of illegally cutting payments made to the hospital for treating thousands of poor patients, a decision executives said could financially unravel the urban hospital's key services. The 26-page complaint argues that the state has financed its landmark health insurance law on the backs of poor residents by cutting money to the hospital that cares for many of them to pay for expanded coverage.