You Heard It Here First: Medicare Spending Slows
Sunday, a New York Times editorial confirmed that “Since January 2010 the growth in Medicare spending has actually slowed to an annual rate of about 4 percent, less than half the annual rate for the...
View ArticleBreaking the Curve of Health Care Inflation
The evidence is building: As we move toward making the Affordable Care Act a reality, Medicare spending in slowing, and even in the private sector, for the first time in more than a decade, insurers...
View ArticlePaul Ryan’s Plan for Medicare: A Disaster for Seniors (Why Doctors Might Stop...
“Robin Hood in reverse, on steroids”–that’s how Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities (CBPP), has described vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s blueprint for...
View ArticleTruth Squad: Is “Obamacare” Pushing Health Care Spending Higher? What Will...
In last Tuesday’s debate Mitt Romney suggested that, under Obamacare, health insurance premiums have spiraled by $2,500 per family. Not true. (Hat tip to Healthcarefinancenews.com.) First let’s get...
View Article“Fiscal Cliff” Talks: An Update
Today, for the first time since the election, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met alone, face-to-face, at the White House to discuss ongoing negotions over the budget. (I can’t help...
View ArticleU.S. Media Loves “Fiscal Cliff” Metaphor; The Economist Recognizes that It’s...
In the U.S., pundits cannot resist the fiscal cliff metaphor: it’s colorful, punchy and easy to understand. It’s just two words long. What’s not to like? It’s not true. The metaphor assumes that if...
View ArticleJoin the debate on “Reining in Medicare Costs without Hurting Seniors”
The January 26 post below (“How to Rein in Medicare costs without Hurting Seniors“) has drawn some 43 comments (including mine, as I responded to readers). I thought of turning a couple of my replies...
View ArticleThe Independent Payment Advisory Board and Medicare Spending: New Research...
Launch of the ACA’s controversial Independent Advisory Board– a panel charged with recommending ways to curb Medicare inflation — has been delayed until 2016. Does this means that the IPAB’s critics...
View ArticleA New IOM Report Reveals Why Medicare Costs So Much (Hint–It’s Not Just the...
George W. Bush is 67. Chances are Medicare paid for the stent operation that I describe in the post above. For years, medical researchers have been telling us that this procedure will provide no...
View ArticleHealth Care Spending Spikes: Why?
Recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reveals that during the last three months of 2013, spending on health care rose at an annual rate of 5.3%. The trend continued this year, with...
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