The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an investigation into Humana Inc.'s effort to enlist beneficiaries to fight proposed cuts to Medicare's private plans. The investigation is looking at whether Humana, one of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans, violated marketing rules by sending letters to beneficiaries urging them to contact lawmakers to register their opposition to proposed cuts.
Some experts say high costs for patients at big-city hospitals reflect a free-spending, out-of-control medical marketplace. Others say medical costs are higher in urban areas because the poor need more care and the rich demand it. Others say the profit motive is at play. Still others say that when lives are at stake, cost should not be an issue. Whatever the reason, the question itself has taken on added importance as the Obama administration pushes a massive expansion of medical care to the uninsured.
Keep going. You don't have to fix all of it now. Just please don't let it stall. That's the essence of the message that Senate Democratic leaders have for their Finance Committee senators, who plan to start voting Tuesday on a remake of the nation's healthcare system. Democrats on the pivotal committee are disappointed with the bill from the chairman, Sen. Max Baucus. Republicans see a chance to deliver a stunning blow to President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
Although cast as a tax on gold-plated insurance policies for the well-heeled, a tax on the most expensive insurance plans has prompted anxiety among the middle class. The idea, proposed by Senator Max Baucus, is to help raise money for the nation's healthcare overhaul. The tax is meant to raise more than a quarter of the $774 billion needed to pay for the Baucus plan. As it turns out, though, many smaller fish would get caught in Baucus' tax net.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said he expects to make adjustments to his healthcare plan, in a bid to solidify support for the bill after some Democrats said it would impose big costs on middle-income families. Baucus' maneuvering came a day after he unveiled his long-awaited bill, designed to expand insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans not now covered. The bill includes a requirement that most Americans carry health insurance or pay a fine, and creates a new tax on high-dollar health plans.
The Labor Department said it is seeking an exemption for General Motors' new retiree healthcare plan that would carry out the automaker's plans to transfer company securities into the healthcare trust. The United Auto Workers' retiree healthcare trust fund received a 17.5% ownership stake in the new GM as part of the company's government-led efforts to emerge from bankruptcy protection last summer. The healthcare trust, which begins Dec. 31, will cover 700,000 GM retirees and dependents.