Predictions of sharp increases in health-insurance premiums for people getting coverage under the U.S. Affordable Care Act have been overstated and many states will see little to no change, researchers at Rand Corp. found. Out-of-pocket premiums for most individuals who buy health plans through new insurance exchanges will decline because of federal subsidies, the Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit research group said today in a report. The researchers looked at insurance markets in 10 states to project costs as core parts of the 2010 health law kick in next year.
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) may actually be the unicorns we've been waiting for, spreading their cost-saving magic throughout the health system. An early cost-sharing program in Massachusetts designed to cut costs for private Blue Cross Blue Shield patients also lowered costs for Medicare patients who were seen by the same providers, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. An ACO, for any one needing a quick refresher, is a network of doctors and hospitals that shares responsibility for providing care to a specific group of patients.
Dr. Donald Berwick might be running for Governor of Massachusetts, but he's still got a foothold in his former life. Berwick, most recently known as the acting chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, had a long record as the leading authority on health care quality, including being founder and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. And it was more in that capacity that the British Prime Minister David Cameron asked Berwick for his recommendations for improving safety and restoring confidence after higher-than-expected death rates at one hospital rocked the country.
(Reuters) - Aetna Inc has decided not to sell insurance on New York's individual health insurance exchange, which is being created under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, the fifth state where it has reversed course in recent weeks. The third-largest U.S. health insurer has said it is seeking to limit its exposure to the risks of providing health plans to America's uninsured, but did not give details about its decision to pull out of specific markets. "We believe it is critical that our plans not only be competitive, but also financially viable, in order to meet the long-term needs of the exchanges in which we choose to participate. On New York, as a result of our analysis, we reluctantly came to the conclusion to withdraw," Aetna spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said.
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to investigate whether government contracts for durable medical goods -- such as wheelchairs, beds and blood-sugar monitors -- are being awarded properly. The probe stems from concerns that the Center for Medicare Services may have awarded hundreds of contracts to suppliers who aren't in compliance with program requirements. U.S. Reps. Glenn "G.T." Thompson, R-Centre, and Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, requested the investigation in June after learning that contracts were awarded to 30 unlicensed suppliers in Tennessee and that more may have been improperly awarded in other states.
The Department of Veterans Affairs awards performance-pay bonuses to doctors without a clear policy on merits for the payments that average $8,000 a year and that go, in some cases, to physicians disciplined or reprimanded, says a governmental review. According to a Government Accountability Office report recently issued, investigators found that during the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years: • A $7,663 performance-pay bonus went to a VA doctor who was reprimanded for practicing medicine with an expired license for three months.