As the healthcare debate moves to the floor of Congress, many proposals to fulfill President Obama's original vow to curb costs have fallen victim to organized interests and politics. And now the scaled-back "Cadillac tax" on high-cost health plans and a nonpartisan Medicare budget-cutting commission are under furious assault, notes the New York Times. "The lobbyists are winning," Representative Jim Cooper, a conservative Tennessee Democrat who teaches health policy, told the Times.
Proposals that would require Americans to buy health insurance are under fire from both ends of the political spectrum, with some liberals saying the penalties are too harsh for those who refuse and conservatives denouncing the whole concept. Still, the idea of an "individual mandate" to carry insurance is an integral part of Democratic efforts to expand health coverage to nearly every American.
Despite promises by President Obama and Democratic leaders that their healthcare overhaul would lower costs, the proposals before Congress would probably not cut overall U.S. healthcare spending significantly anytime soon, health policy specialists say. "I think there are some valuable steps being taken to position us in the future for cost containment," Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, told the Boston Globe. "But there is nothing that is clearly going to be a powerful force for slowing the cost trends."
Massachusetts' plan to shake up how providers are paid could have a hidden price for patients: Controlling the state's soaring medical costs, many healthcare leaders believe, may require residents to give up their freedom to go to any hospital and specialist they want. A growing number of hospital officials and physician leaders warn that the new payment system proposed by a state commission would not work without restrictions on where patients receive care.
Had all gone as planned since 2006, when the Hospital Corporation of America first proposed a 56-bed hospital for Spring Hill, the company would have been preparing for the early 2010 grand opening of the institution. Instead, HCA is re-evaluating its options after three years of court and administrative battles with the two county-owned hospitals that serve the city. Officials of TriStar Health Systems, a division of HCA, said recently they would not appeal a court ruling blocking plans for the hospital on the south side of town. Instead, the company will pursue other options to serve the area's residents.
Hollywood, FL-based Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital has broken ground on a $130 million expansion project that will include a children's cancer center, a medical and surgical section, a gastrointestinal special procedures area, and 48 private patient rooms. Expansion became necessary because of an increase in patients, said Nina Beauchesne, administrator for the children's hospital and pediatric services for Memorial Healthcare System.