Obamacare's going to start overloading some peoples' Outlook calendar very soon. Stung by an embarrassing overstating of Obamacare enrollment numbers, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell has ordered her deputies to hold a series of meetings to discuss how to increase transparency around that health-care reform program and the rest of the agency's work. Burwell's mandate came days after it was revealed the Obama administration had inflated—accidentally or otherwise—the number of total Obamacare sign-ups by nearly 400,000 people in September and then again in early November by including people enrolled in dental plans.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell expressed confidence Monday that the Supreme Court will rule for the administration in a challenge to premium tax credits distributed by federal health insurance exchanges. Burwell, speaking during a visit to Dallas to promote open enrollment, said lawmakers wanted every eligible enrollee to receive subsidies, not just those in certain states. "The United States Congress did not intend that some states, and citizens of only some states, would benefit from this and residents of other states would not," Burwell said, according to WOAI News in San Antonio. "This was not the intent of the law."
The Obama administration took another step to close what many see as a health-law loophole that allows large employers to offer medical plans without hospital coverage and bars their workers from subsidies to buy their own insurance. "It has come to our attention that certain group health plan designs that provide no coverage of inpatient hospital services are being promoted," the Department of Health and Human Services said in proposed rules issued late Friday. Under the new standard, companies with at least 50 workers "must provide substantial coverage of both inpatient hospital services and physician services" to meet the Affordable Care Act's threshold for a "minimum value" of coverage, the agency said.
A government watchdog report says the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration should determine whether hospitals are properly reporting revenue they can receive from group purchasing organizations such as Charlotte-based Premier to make sure Medicare payments aren't being affected. The report, released Monday by the Government Accountability Office, also drew sharp criticism from a physicians group that said the findings did not address their allegations that GPOs are contributing to generic prescription drug shortages. GPOs contend manufacturing problems and other factors lead to shortages and that they are working to address the problem. GPOs such as Premier are organizations that negotiate contracts for medical products and services, typically on behalf of hospital organizations such as Carolinas HealthCare System.
The next Ebola or the next SARS. Maybe even the next HIV. Even before the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is brought under control, public health officials are girding for the next health disaster. "It's really urgent that we address the weak links and blind spots around the world," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press. "Ebola is a powerful reminder that a health threat anywhere can affect us." Ebola sprang from one of those blind spots, in an area that lacks the health systems needed to detect an outbreak before it becomes a crisis.
You hear it so often it's almost a cliché: The nation is facing a serious shortage of doctors, particularly doctors who practice primary care, in the coming years. But is that really the case? Many medical groups, led by the Association of American Medical Colleges, say there's little doubt. "We think the shortage is going to be close to 130,000 in the next 10 to 12 years," says Atul Grover, the group's chief public policy officer. But others, particularly health care economists, are less convinced.