Posted by Admin | 6:37 PM

Last week's deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" settled very little. For those in the health care market, I will suggest the big ...

Labels: Deficits, Fiscal Cliff, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Obama Medicare, Obamacare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Paul Ryan Health Care Plan

Posted by Admin | 10:50 AM

They both are and they both aren’t. I’ve never seen a week in health care policy like last week. The media reports have to be in the thousan...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Obama Health Plan Analysis, Obama Medicare, Obama vs. Romney, Paul Ryan Health Care Plan, Paul Ryan Medicare, Romney Health Plan, Romney Health Plan Analysis

Posted by Admin | 12:02 PM

I recommend you read John Rother's recent op-ed in the Washington Post, "Five Myths About Medicare."John argues that each of t...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Paul Ryan Health Care Proposals, Wyden-Ryan

Posted by Admin | 11:00 AM

Medicare Advantage would appear to be a fantastic success—senior premiums are dropping and enrollment is increasing.Listening to Health and ...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Paul Ryan Health Care Proposals

Posted by Admin | 12:13 PM

The debt deal is finally done. But it really isn’t an agreement on what cuts will be made, just the process that will be used to make them.T...

Labels: Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Physician Fees

Posted by Admin | 11:35 AM

The Co-Chairs of the President’s Deficit Reduction Commission are out with their preliminary recommendations.They’ve done a great job—they’v...

Labels: Deficits, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 3:24 PM

This from Erica Werner's AP story today:A major health insurer [United Health Group] says the government can save more than $500 billion...

Labels: Health Care Reform, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 11:15 AM

Matthew Holt, publisher of the Health Care Blog, and I have been in a state of incredulity over Wall Street’s head in the sand view of the M...

Labels: Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 6:00 AM

Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) released his health plan white paper last week.Buried in it was this regarding how private Medicare p...

Labels: Baucus Health Plan, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 7:06 AM

I have been struck by the optimism regarding private Medicare presented by health plan executives during the recent earnings season and the ...

Labels: Health Care Earnings, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 1:09 PM

Now that we know private fee-for-service (PFFS) is dead on January 1, 2011 in all but the most rural markets, how will the health plans who ...

Labels: Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 8:27 AM

Why the health insurance industry allowed itself to be put in the place they were put by the Democrats yesterday is beyond me.With the Senat...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 1:40 PM

Ted Kennedy came to the Senate floor and led Senate Democrats to an amazing victory in their first real attempt to rein-in private Medicare ...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 12:49 PM

What is the one thing no human being should want to be next week?A Republican Senator at a Fourth of July Picnic.In the most amazing turn of...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 11:35 AM

If private Medicare is to be continued proponents had better make better arguments than Scott Gottlieb made on Tuesday's Wall Street Jou...

Labels: Medicare, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 2:05 PM

When WellPoint, Humana, United, and others had earnings warnings this spring I pointed out their issues were largely unrelated and amounted ...

Labels: Health Care Earnings, Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 8:00 AM

Congressional Democrats tried to take a big bite out of private Medicare this past week in an attempt to pay for an 18 month fix to the upco...

Labels: Medicare Advantage

Posted by Admin | 9:00 AM

Physicians are facing a 10% Medicare fee cut on July 1st, a total of 15% in cuts on January 1, 2009, a cumulative total of 20% on January 1,...

Labels: Congressional Agenda, Health Care Reform, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Primary Care Crisis

Posted by Admin | 5:00 AM

Wall Street seems to have lost faith in publicly traded HMOs.When the Medicare Modernization Act was passed in late 2003, it was seen as a m...

Labels: Medicare Advantage, Part D

Posted by Admin | 2:00 PM

For some time I have been saying that we are about to have a "food fight" between health care providers over who will sustain Medi...

Labels: Congressional Agenda, Medicare, Medicare Advantage