Lawmakers earlier this month introduced bills in the House and Senate that would place a three-year moratorium on retroactive repayments from hospice providers to Medicare and authorize a comprehensive study of Medicare hospice benefits, Scripps Howard/Washington Times reports.
The latest report by Medicare trustees, all top officials of the Bush administration, contained the same bad news as last year’s report.
“Transitioning to Medicare Before Age 65,” Health Affairs: According to the study by Pamela Farley Short of Penn State University and France Weaver of the Swiss Health Observatory, about one-quarter of disabled workers younger than age 65 who start receiving Social Security Disability Income are un
“Once again, Medicare’s Trustees have rung the alarm bell that the long-term fiscal solvency of the program is in serious trouble. It is critical that lawmakers ensure that Medicare will be a viable safety net for future generations of seniors.
The Medicare hospital insurance trust fund will become insolvent by 2019, the estimate given last year, according to a report released on Tuesday by the board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security, the New York Times reports. The trustees projected that Medicare spending will increase from 3.2% of gross domestic product in 2007 to [...]
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—-Adding their voices to those of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries who are directly benefitting from the services provided by Healthways, Inc. in its Medicare Health Support program in Maryland and the District of Columbia, over 300 individual physicians, as well as group practices and health systems including the Washington Hospital Center and Midatlantic Cardiovascular,…
Florida Health News on Friday examined federal payment disparities among Medicare advantage plans in Florida. According to a Florida Health News analysis, payments to MA plans in Miami-Dade County on average are 38% higher than payments in 24 other Florida counties and 50% higher than in a dozen other counties.
The Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday examined how the Florida medicare fraud Strike Force last year combined “traditional investigative methods and heightened interagency cooperation to quickly identify patterns of irregular billing” to charge 197 defendants, who accounted for 25% of defendants in Medicare fraud cases in the U.S.
The board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security on Tuesday will issue an annual report on the financial status of the programs that likely will “kick off a fierce round of debate,” the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a legal challenge brought by AARP concerning an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that employers can reduce benefits for retirees who reach age 65 and become eligible for Medicare, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The Supreme Court this week let stand a federal policy that allows employers to reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. The justices t
“There have been dire warnings of the imminent insolvency of the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund before, and Congress has addressed them by making careful and measured adjustments to how Medicare pays for services.
The Bush administration said that Medicare and Social Security are still loosing financial ground, but that they had not deteriorated significantly in the last year.
The new reports, like those issued last April, said that Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund would be exhausted in 2019, while Social Security’s reserves would be depleted in 2041.
Medicare’s trust fund will spend more than it receives from taxes this year, a report warns.