More than 660,000 seniors next year will lose the private Medicare plans they now have because some insurers are dropping coverage in response to tougher federal requirements. Most of those beneficiaries are enrolled in a type of Medicare Advantage plan called Private Fee for Service, where enrollment has surged from about 820,000 three years ago to more than 2.44 million. The high cost of PFFS plans led Congress to vote in 2008 to require the plans to establish networks of providers beginning in 2011.
Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee voted to encourage limits on the compensation of insurance executives, responding to charges that expanding health insurance coverage would enrich insurance companies. Voting 14-8, the committee approved an amendment that would limit the tax deductibility of compensation for insurance executives to $500,000 a year. The limit would apply to executives at companies that get significant business generated by the bill's mandate that nearly all Americans must have insurance. Under current law, businesses can deduct up to $1 million a year in compensation for executives, reports the Wall Street Journal.
On the eve of unveiling an $80 million expansion, Miami-based Leon Medical Centers has been lauded by Health Affairs as one of the best examples in the nation for producing quality healthcare at low costs. The article praised the clinics for emphasizing primary care and keeping costs 15%-20% below the national average.
If a third of people wind up catching swine flu in the United States, Tennessee would have enough hospital beds at the outbreak peak to serve the sickest, a new report states. The nonprofit Trust for America's Health estimates the number of people hospitalized could range from a high of 168,000 in California to just under 2,500 in Wyoming. An estimated 15 states could run out of hospital beds around the time the outbreak reached a tipping point, the report found.
Doctors are trying to remove a provision in the Senate's latest health bill that would cut Medicare payments to those who administer the most tests and treatments. The proposal is aimed at reducing waste, and is one of several proposals in the bill by the Senate Finance Committee that could change how doctors are evaluated and paid, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Denis A. Cortese, MD, chief executive of the Mayo Clinic, told the New York Times he is disgusted with the current machinations in Washington over how to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. Cortese, who has shared his views with White House officials and some Congressional Democrats, argues that Congress has become too enmeshed in the details. Instead, he said, Congress should try to draft legislation charting an overall direction toward better medical care for the nation, then leave implementation to an organization such as the Department of Health and Human Services.