Daily Policy Digest
Health Issues
| More U.S. Employers Tie Health Insurance to Medical Tests The number of employers embracing programs that tie the medical premiums paid by employees to their performance on certain tests of health inched up from 49 percent in 2010 to 54 percent last year... |
| Premium Support in Medicare A fully implemented competitive bidding system would reduce federal spending on Medicare by about 5.6 percent through 2020... |
| The Cliff's Notes Version of Republican Health Reform Under Representative Paul Ryan's budget plan, Medicare beneficiaries would be given a subsidy for the purchase of private plans, rather than having unlimited services provided to them directly... |
| Like the United States, Europe Wrestles With Health Care The National Health Service currently costs the United Kingdom more than $158 billion a year... |
| Effort to Pay Hospitals Based on Quality Didn't Cut Death Rates A new study casts doubt on a central premise of the health law's effort to rework the financial incentives for hospitals with the aim of saving money while improving patient care... |
| Long-Term Care Insurance Policy Costs Rising Long-term care insurance policies are now 6 percent to 17 percent higher than in 2011... |
| Scorecard on Local Health System Performance Regions that tend to perform above average in one area of health care tend to perform well in others as well... |
| Some Insurers Paying Patients Who Agree To Get Cheaper Care Some Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield members in certain states can receive $50 to $200 if they get a diagnostic test or elective procedure at a less expensive facility than the one their doctor recommended... |
| Health Reform's Medicaid Mandates Are Unconstitutional The Affordable Care Act imposes costly new requirements on states for Medicaid spending, overriding any state choice to the contrary... |
| Yes, the GOP Does Have a Plan to Reform Health Care According to the Lewin Group, families earning $100,000 a year get nearly six times as much tax relief as families earning $25,000, says John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
