In what could set the stage for a buyout worth more than $4 billion, hospital operator Community Health Systems and other companies have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring Health Management Associates. The buyout buzz comes as the U.S. health-care industry and the hospital sector in particular continue to see a flurry of consolidation in the wake of the Obama administration's health-reform law. According to Reuters, Community Health is the most likely buyer of Naples, Florida-based Health Management, which reported 2012 revenue of $5.88 billion.
Framing a new argument against President Barack Obama's healthcare law, congressional GOP leaders called Tuesday for a delay in the law's requirement that individual Americans carry health insurance. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other senior Republicans told Obama in a letter that his decision last week to grant a one-year delay for employers but leave in place provisions for individuals and families had created many new questions and concerns. At a Capitol Hill news conference, Boehner vowed to hold another vote this month to remove the individual mandate, arguing that it was necessary to "correct this injustice." "If businesses can get relief from Obamacare, the rest of America ought to be able to get relief as well," Boehner told reporters. He later added, "We'll have another vote, count on it."
In a split with U.S. bishops, a trade group for Catholic hospitals said Tuesday it can accept the Obama's administration latest compromise on birth control coverage by religious employers. Under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, most employers are required to cover birth control as a free preventive service for women workers. Churches and other houses of worship are fully exempt from the mandate. But religiously-affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups are not. The compromise, in a final regulation from the administration, attempts to create a buffer for these employers. It requires insurers or the health plan's outside administrator to pay for birth control coverage, and creates a mechanism for reimbursing them.
Kathleen Sebelius is on the defensive more than ever now that the White House has delayed a major provision of the law that requires larger employers to offer health insurance to full-time employees. Republicans say she has given a far too rosy picture of progress in carrying out the law. And they are demanding that she explain why people should be required to carry insurance next year if employers are not required to offer it. In her zeal to make the healthcare law work, Ms. Sebelius has tested the limits of her authority. After Congress refused to provide as much as she wanted for a nationwide campaign publicizing the new insurance options, she shuffled money between government accounts and sought cash from outside groups. She is defending herself and her fund-raising activities, even as she defends the law.
While health orgs are dooming their innovation to failure or dither by not taking any meaningful action, it's notable that a Nobel Peace Prize winner sees an opportunity to fix a critical portion of the U.S. healthcare system. Muhammad Yunus, is famous for creating the concept of microfinance which has brought thousands out of poverty via the Grameen Bank. Grameen America is their U.S. affiliate which has already lent $77 million to over 15,000 women impacting 60,000 people (each borrower averages a family of four). Grameen has partnered with Iora Health to offer primary care services to their borrowers in New York. They believe addressing healthcare is a key facet of bringing people out of poverty.
An Oklahoma City surgery center is offering a new kind of price transparency, posting guaranteed all-inclusive surgery prices online. The move is revolutionizing medical billing in Oklahoma and around the world. Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantier launched Surgery Center of Oklahoma 15 years ago, founded on the simple principle of price honesty. Surgery Center of Oklahoma started posting their prices online about four years ago. The prices are all-inclusive quotes and they are guaranteed. "When we first started we thought we were about half the price of the hospitals," Dr. Lantier remembers. ?Then we found out we?re less than half price. Then we find out we're a sixth to an eighth of what their prices are. I can't believe the average person can afford healthcare at these prices."