A new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that more than 40% of the 700 companies surveyed intend to increase employee contributions for health-insurance coverage, while an equivalent number plan to increase medical cost-sharing, including higher deductibles and co-payments, at the point of care. Meanwhile, the ranks of those offering health benefits for retirees are shrinking, with a 40% drop among those subsidizing coverage after age 65.
Alix Stuart of CFO.com explains that the main driver of increased costs next year is declining Medicare reimbursements from the government to hospitals, the result of estimated over reimbursements in previous years.
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According to Reuters, a new study revealed that “the cost of imaging used on Medicare cancer patients is growing at twice the rate of overall cancer treatment costs as doctors order more scans and recommend more advanced tests.” This study is the first to examine the growing cost and use of scans performed on cancer patients.
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A new study of Medicare patients found that people who were hospitalized with a heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia did much better at busier hospitals that treat these problems all the time. “Busier hospitals on average tended to have lower rates of death from these three common conditions than smaller hospitals,” states Alicia Chang from the Associated Press.
The study showed that the risk of death within a month of a patient’s admission to a large hospital was 11 percent lower for heart attacks, 9 percent lower for heart failure and 5 percent lower for pneumonia.
The study showed that the risk of death within a month of a patient’s admission to larger hospitals was 11 percent lower for heart attacks, 9 percent lower for heart failure and 5 percent lower for pneumonia.
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Medical providers have asked the question of whether offering cash discounts for certain health services jeopardizes their insurance contracts- especially regarding Medicare/Medicaid, as they have the most complex rules and regulations. Unfortunately, after reviewing various documents on the matter, there are no clear and absolute answers; but certainly there are prevailing opinions and recommendations. A pertinent review of the issues and opinions for health facilities offering discounts to uninsured patients can be found at this link.
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President Obama revealed on Sunday that he plans to assemble a public meeting at the end of the month with Republican and Democratic leaders to reach a bipartisan consensus on healthcare reform. Obama wants to hear Republican’s input in regards to healthcare reform, however, he does not want to completely start over, only take the best ideas and move forward. Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman from The Washington Post say, “The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy.”
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Experts say California might have to go solo on extending healthcare coverage to the millions of uninsured Californians because “the future of federal overhaul efforts appears uncertain,” reports California Healthline. Nearly 7 million people are uninsured in California, and about the same amount of people are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. “Although federal health care reform could extend coverage to more Californians, it also could burden the cash-strapped state with additional Medi-Cal costs,” states California Healthline.
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The Washington Post reports that, “Last year, Obama used his budget to lay the groundwork for comprehensive health-care reform, proposing a 10-year $634 billion reserve fund as a “down payment” on universal coverage. This year’s blueprint does not include that money,” but administration sources say the new budget presumes a healthcare bill will be passed and lead to a $150 billion deficit reduction over the next 10 years.
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A while ago Congress came up with a solution to control Medicare spending; however, the solution only solves the problem temporarily. “It sets spending targets. If they’re not met, fees paid to doctors, hospitals and nursing homes automatically are cut,” reports the Houston Chronicle. If targets aren’t met, these fees are supposed to be cut, but a majority of the time “those cuts have been triggered, Congress has stepped in at the last minute to soften or repeal them — usually with the provision that even larger cuts would take effect at some undetermined future date,” states the Houston Chronicle.
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St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan has been helping people for over 150 years, and has “treated victims of calamities, from the cholera epidemic of 1849 to the sinking of the Titanic, the 9/11 terrorist attack and, just last year, the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549,” reports Anemona Hartocollis from The New York Times. However, the hospital is now struggling to stay alive, and a big chain of hospitals has “proposed to take over St. Vincent’s, shut down its inpatient beds and most of its emergency room services, and convert it into an outpatient center tied into the chain’s own hospitals uptown and across town to the east,” states Hartocollis. If St. Vincent’s were to be taken over, it could be the end of the last Roman Catholic general hospital in New York City.
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