health care costs

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Health Reform Bill Won't Stop Premium Hikes

Action on curbs didn't make final cut, leaving 'very big loophole'

(Newser) - Turns out the big health care reform bill doesn't actually rein in those out-of-control premium rate hikes. The Democrats used outrage over whopping increases to corral support for the overhaul, but the bill doesn't deliver, finds the Los Angeles Times , because it doesn't give the government the regulatory authority. "...

3 Big Myths About Health Care Reform
 3 Big Myths About 
 Health Care Reform 
PAUL KRUGMAN
Mar 12, 2010 6:08 AM CST

3 Big Myths About Health Care Reform

Don't be taken in by misinformation, warns Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Health care reform has made a miraculous comeback but its opponents are going to try to hoodwink the public with misinformation and lies down the home stretch, writes Paul Krugman. He outlines "three big myths" about reform in the New York Times .
  • "The government is grabbing control of
...

Get Ready to Pay More for Health Coverage

 Get Ready 
 to Pay More 
 for Health 
 Coverage 
especially if you're overweight
Mar 11, 2010 7:16 AM CST

Get Ready to Pay More for Health Coverage

Employers plan to hike premiums, copays, penalties for obese

(Newser) - Large companies have big plans for their employees' health plans next year: sizable premium hikes, higher deductibles and co-payments, higher charges for covering spouses, penalties for results of certain lab tests, and tighter eligibility standards that may even exclude overweight people from the most desirable health plans. That's what 507...

House Scrutinizes Health Insurer's 39% Rate Hike

Anthem Blue Cross jacks some premiums in California

(Newser) - As Congress opened a probe into a health insurer's impending premium hikes of up to 39%, President Obama yesterday cited Anthem Blue Cross's rate increases as evidence of the need for health care reform. "If we don't act, this is just a preview of coming attractions," Obama said....

Health Care Costs Hit All-Time High

And the government will soon be paying 50% of them

(Newser) - Health care spending hit a record 17.3% of GDP last year, up from 16.2% in 2008, according to new figures from the government’s nonpartisan Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Today’s report also predicts that by next year, the government may be paying 50% or more...

White House, Unions Reach Deal on 'Cadillac Tax'

Agreement clears one of the biggest obstacles to final bill

(Newser) - The White House has struck a deal with unions on how to tax generous health insurance policies, one of the last major sticking points in crafting a final bill. Few details are available on the agreement over the so-called "Cadillac tax," but President Obama is expected to visit...

US Life Expectancy, Health Costs Not a Pretty Picture
US Life Expectancy, Health Costs Not a Pretty Picture
numbers don't lie
Jan 4, 2010 3:52 PM CST

US Life Expectancy, Health Costs Not a Pretty Picture

Viral graph shows better stats for numerous developed countries

(Newser) - A graphic that's gaining wide currency on the Internet paints a grim picture of the American health care system, which costs more than any other country's but results in an average life expectancy that's solidly middle-of-the-pack. The graph, originally posted on a National Geographic blog, wasn't clear enough for the...

Liberal 'Kill Bill' Case Is Naive, Deceptive
Liberal 'Kill Bill' Case Is Naive, Deceptive
Ezra Klein
Dec 22, 2009 10:15 AM CST

Liberal 'Kill Bill' Case Is Naive, Deceptive

Hey, Jane Hamsher: A better bill is not coming along, and this ain't bad

(Newser) - Ezra Klein isn’t “sure there's much in the way of productive dialogue to be had” with liberal firebrand Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake concerning her call yesterday to kill the Senate health care reform bill, but he’ll try anyway. Hamsher’s list is “misleading,” her “...

10 Ways Senate Health Reform Hurts You
10 Ways Senate Health Reform Hurts You
KILL THE BILL
Dec 21, 2009 6:03 PM CST

10 Ways Senate Health Reform Hurts You

Measure that should have saved money will cost an arm and a leg

(Newser) - The Senate health reform bill is all fire and brimstone for the folks over at Firedoglake . The “con job” legislation “isn’t a ‘starter home,’ it’s a sink hole,” Jane Hamsher writes, and “it needs to die so something else can take its...

Health Bill Fiendishly Hard to Call
 Health Bill 
 Fiendishly 
 Hard to Call 
david brooks
Dec 18, 2009 1:20 AM CST

Health Bill Fiendishly Hard to Call

Lack of fundamental reform makes it a narrow no for Brooks

(Newser) - David Brooks would vote no if he were a senator deciding on the health care bill today. But he admits that the pros and cons are so finely balanced that he flip-flops from week to week. The bill should be supported because it takes the deficit seriously, will provide insurance...

Sinking Health Bill Packed With Hidden Costs

Dems scramble to pass bill before true price emerges

(Newser) - The Democrats are in a race against time to get a health care bill passed before the public realizes the scale of the hidden burdens involved, writes Michael Gerson. The money to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone has to come from somewhere, and young people, seniors and union workers who...

Surgery Marathons Raise Questions on Cost, Ethics

One man's procedure cost $300K, but it could push the field

(Newser) - After 43 hours of on-and-off “ex vivo resection”—organs removed, operated on, and replaced—a Wisconsin man is free of the 10-pound tumor strangling his liver. Along with it went parts of his stomach and intestine, and his abdomen contains not only Gore-Tex tubing but parts of his...

Medicaid Kids Given Antipsychotics 4X More

Seen as most effective treatment; counseling often goes by wayside

(Newser) - Kids on Medicaid rolls are prescribed antipsychotic drugs at an eye-popping rate four times that of kids with private insurance, federal data show, underlining how pills rather than counseling are often seen as the most efficient way to deal with underprivileged children. And not only are Medicaid kids receiving more...

The Senate's Health Care Plan: Try Everything
The Senate's Health Care Plan: Try Everything
analysis
Dec 7, 2009 2:27 PM CST

The Senate's Health Care Plan: Try Everything

Pilot programs might be the best way to solve the cost problem

(Newser) - The Senate health care plan ensures universal coverage, but when it comes to controlling costs, all it offers is…pilot programs. Sounds pretty flimsy, right? “Two thousand seventy-four pages and trillions of dollars later, this bill doesn’t even meet the basic goal,” complained Mitch McConnell, “to...

CBO: Most Premiums Won't Rise Under Health Bill

People under employer plans will see rates fall or remain steady

(Newser) - Fears that the health bill before the Senate will send the cost of most health insurance plans skyrocketing are unfounded, according to a Congressional Budget Office report. The CBO found that premiums for people covered by employer plans will remain steady or drop slightly under the bill, while people buying...

White House Backs Senate On 'Cadillac' Health Tax

Advisers outline cost control measures for health plan

(Newser) - The White House has come down firmly on the Senate's side over big discrepancies between the House and Senate health bills. Senior advisers to President Obama said yesterday an excise tax on expensive, "Cadillac" health plans and a commission to control Medicare spending were among the “four pillars"...

We Must Reduce Health Care Costs*
We Must
Reduce Health Care Costs*
Eugene Robinson
Nov 24, 2009 10:37 AM CST

We Must Reduce Health Care Costs*

*But please don't touch mine, no matter how wasteful

(Newser) - The brouhaha over mammograms proves that we’ll never corral health care costs for one simple reason: no one wants to give up any care. Intellectually, women may understand that life-threatening breast cancer is pretty rare before age 50, but rare doesn’t mean non-existent. “Many women would rather...

Public Doesn't Want to Pay for Health Care Fix

Americans support goals, but not if it will cost them personally

(Newser) - Americans are enthusiastic about health care reform, but only as long as it doesn't drive up the price of their own premiums, a new AP poll finds. Whenever questions were framed broadly, voters seemed to support Democrats’ plans, but when asked about specific trade-offs they balked. A whopping 82%, for...

GOP Health Plan Would Leave 52M Uninsured

Bill saves some money, expands coverage by only 3M

(Newser) - The GOP health care bill has no chance of passing—but if it did, most people who already have coverage would see their premiums drop, while 52 million Americans currently uninsured would stay that way. So says a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which largely confirms Dems' claims...

US Health Care Wastes $700B a Year
 US Health Care 
 Wastes $700B a Year 
Study sees huge savings
Oct 26, 2009 5:53 AM CDT

US Health Care Wastes $700B a Year

A third of spending is lost to pointless treatment, paperwork, fraud

(Newser) - A study by Thomson Reuters released today confirms President Obama's contention that the American health care system is hemorrhaging billions of dollars a year, with one-third of the cost of care wasted on inefficiency, mistakes, and fraud. The report, which cites dozens of research papers, finds that about $700 billion...

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