Federal prosecutors filed a record number of health care fraud cases last fiscal year, perhaps reflecting the greater emphasis the government has placed on combating the crime costing taxpayers billions of dollars per year. According to Justice Department statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a Syracuse University-based nonprofit group that tracks federal spending, staffing and enforcement activities, prosecutors pursued 377 new federal health care fraud cases in the fiscal year that ended in October. That was 3 percent more than the previous year and 7.7 percent more than five years ago.
It's a familiar problem for families with an elder trying to cope with chronic health conditions: Doctors don't talk to each other, and sometimes they prescribe drugs that work at cross purposes. Nobody seems to look out for the overall health of the patient. With chronic illnesses like heart problems, diabetes and cancer taking a toll on seniors as well as Medicare's budget, a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday proposed a new approach aimed at keeping patients healthier and avoiding hospitalizations. They're calling it the Better Care Program. Teams of doctors, nurses and social workers would get a flat fee per Medicare patient, with fewer strings attached.
Officials at Jackson Health System say they do not know what has caused a surge of uninsured patients to flood emergency rooms in the past few months, leading to nearly a $1 million loss for December. On Wednesday, the Public Health Trust that runs Jackson asked hospital administrators for weekly updates on the influx of uninsured. The change in the financial picture could potentially threaten the success story pitched last fall to Miami-Dade voters, who approved $830 million in taxpayer financing to upgrade the county's aging hospital network.
The politics of health care may, for the moment, be mired in gridlock. But Republican policy analyst Douglas Holtz-Eakin thinks the time will come when his party will stop trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Democrats will start trying to fix it. When that day arrives, both sides will need help charting a path through the health policy wilderness. So Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this week opened the virtual doors of a new think tank known as the Center for Health and Economy. Unlike your average think tank, the center is not dedicated to developing its own policy prescriptions.
Missouri health care groups pressed state lawmakers Wednesday to bar insurers from charging higher co-payments and deductibles for chemotherapy medication taken in pill form, saying it would allow many patients to avoid having to go to a hospital or doctor's office for intravenous treatments. A proposed bill would require insurance companies to charge the same fees for chemotherapy pills as they do for intravenous treatment. Insurers can charge higher fees for orally-taken treatments even if they are the only ones available, according to the American Cancer Society. "The goal would be that a person battling cancer could still go to work every day, support their families and live a normal life," said Rep. Sheila Solon, R-Blue Springs, one of the measure's sponsors.
Amid further delays for consumers, California's two largest health insurers extended payment deadlines once more for people who signed up for Jan. 1 coverage through the Covered California exchange. Anthem Blue Cross, a unit of industry giant WellPoint Inc., said it is giving new enrollees until Jan. 31 to pay their first month's premium. Kaiser Permanente, the state's largest HMO, extended the deadline to Jan. 22. Wednesday remains the official deadline for other policies purchased through the Covered California exchange, but its 11 insurers are free to grant extra time, and customers are urged to check with their specific health plan. These new dates also apply to coverage bought outside the exchange.