WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed concern about two multi-billion dollar insurance mergers on Tuesday, using a Senate hearing to take issue with the companies’ arguments that they face expanding competition from new rivals. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, said he was worried that consumers would be “locked…
U.S. Says 17.6 Million Americans Have Gained Health Insurance
(Reuters)—The U.S. national healthcare reform law has extended health insurance coverage to 17.6 million Americans, according to a new government report on Tuesday, up from its previous estimate of 16.4 million. The number of uninsured has decreased because of changes in the law that allowed young people to stay on their parents’ health plans for…
U.S. Doctors Group Says Planned Health Mergers Are Anti-Competitive
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Two proposed mergers of U.S. health insurers worth tens of billions of dollars would hurt competition in commercial health plans in as many as 17 states, the American Medical Association, the U.S. group that represents physicians, said on Tuesday. Aetna Inc. announced plans to buy smaller rival Humana Inc. in early July and…
AFIRM Act of 2015 Could Benefit Rheumatologists
New legislation has the potential to streamline the audit process for Medicare and Medicaid, taking a burden off small rheumatology practices…
Congress’ District Workweeks in August Prime Time for Rheumatology Advocacy
Each year in August, lawmakers return home for the summer recess and convene district workweeks. That means you have the opportunity to meet with members in their local offices, attend fund-raisers nearby or participate in a town hall. This is where our strength as a membership organization can benefit us most. We have real physicians…
CareFirst Sees More Than Doubled Savings on Shared Rewards with Doctors
(Reuters)—Insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield said on Thursday its cost savings on providing healthcare rose sharply last year in a program that rewards doctors for keeping patients out of the hospital. The non-profit health insurer operates an approach to delivering care that emphasizes coordination among providers, led by a patient’s primary care physician. The model is…
Healthcare Improving for Older Americans
(Reuters Health)—The number of deaths, hospital stays and healthcare costs decreased among older Americans on Medicare over the past 15 years, according to a new study. “Although our health care system has its failings, we are making remarkable progress,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the study’s lead author from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. “People…
Some Public Hospitals Win, Others Lose with Obamacare
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—A year and a half after the Affordable Care Act brought widespread reforms to the U.S. healthcare system, Chicago’s Cook County Health & Hospitals System has made its first profit in 180 years. Seven hundred miles south, the fortunes of Atlanta’s primary public hospital, Grady Health System, haven’t improved, and it remains as…
Main Fund for U.S. Medicare Program to Run Out of Money in 2030
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A slowdown in healthcare spending has shored up the funding outlook for the federal program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills, trustees of the program said on Wednesday. The Medicare program’s trust fund for hospital care will run out of money in 2030 the trustees said in a report. That was the same year…
Americans Want Medicare to Help Negotiate Down Drug Prices
NEW YORK (Reuters)—A vast majority of Americans say the Medicare health program for the elderly should be able to negotiate with drug companies to set lower medication prices, a practice currently prohibited by law, according to a survey released on Friday. The poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 87% of people surveyed…
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