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Part A to Go Broke in 2017
The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money in 2017—2 years earlier than predicted last year—in part because the fund is collecting fewer payroll taxes during the recession, trustees of the fund announced in their annual report. If lawmakers don't make changes in the program, in 2017 the Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund could pay only 81% of anticipated benefits, and that would decline to about 50% in 2035 and 30% in 2080, the trustees said. The trustees also predicted that premiums for Medicare Parts B and D will continue to rise much faster than inflation, and the separate Medicare Supplemental Insurance Trust Fund that in part finances those benefits will require additional money from the general treasury. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement that the report should stimulate action on the part of lawmakers considering overall health care reform. “This isn't just another government report,” Ms. Sebelius commented. “It's a wake-up call for everyone who is concerned about Medicare and the health of our economy. And it's yet another sign that we can't wait for real, comprehensive health reform.”
Mental Heath Parity Comments Due
The federal government is seeking public comments before implementing a law that demands broader insurance coverage for mental health benefits. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 requires that health plans use the same rules for cost-sharing and visit limits in offering mental health and addiction treatment that they use for medical and surgical treatments. Together, HHS and the Labor Department said they want to know the financial and treatment limits that insurance plans currently impose, the plans' practices in determining medical necessity for and denying mental health benefits, and how plans handle out-of-network mental health benefits.
Families Can't Afford Insurance
The majority of uninsured American families cannot afford to buy nongroup health insurance, according to a study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study measured families' median net worth—their savings plus other assets, minus debt—rather than just family income. The AHRQ concluded that although an income-based model works well to estimate how many families will enroll in employer-based coverage, it overestimates nongroup health insurance enrollment for families that have low net worth and underestimates enrollment for families that have high net worth. Also, families without access to employer-based coverage were much more likely than those with such access to earn below 200% of the federal poverty level, the study showed.
Medical Homes Are Challenging
Transforming a primary care practice into a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) requires “epic whole-practice reimagination and redesign,” according to researchers who reported on one of the first demonstrations of the PCMH model. The results of the 2-year pilot project, which was launched in 2006 and supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians, showed that the technology that is needed to run a PCMH is especially difficult to implement. In addition, a successful transition to a PCMH requires physicians “to change their professional identity and the socialized ways they currently deliver primary care.” For example, physicians must learn to work in practice teams, change how they manage chronic care, incorporate a populationwide approach to health management, use evidence at the point of care, and partner with their patients, the researchers wrote in the May/June Annals of Family Medicine.
HHS Launches Lupus Campaign
The Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with the American College of Rheumatology and other health care organizations, has launched a national advertising campaign to educate women about lupus. “Despite its prevalence in the United States, lupus is rarely discussed and often misunderstood among women in our country,” said Dr. Wanda K. Jones, deputy assistant secretary for women's health at HHS. A recent study by the Ad Council found that about 80% of women aged 18–44 in the United States have little or no knowledge of lupus.
New Web Site Pushes Reform
Doctors for America, a new grassroots physician organization, is launching a campaign to get physicians' voices heard on health care reform. The “Voices of Physicians” campaign has collected and published comments from doctors nationwide at
Part A to Go Broke in 2017
The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money in 2017—2 years earlier than predicted last year—in part because the fund is collecting fewer payroll taxes during the recession, trustees of the fund announced in their annual report. If lawmakers don't make changes in the program, in 2017 the Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund could pay only 81% of anticipated benefits, and that would decline to about 50% in 2035 and 30% in 2080, the trustees said. The trustees also predicted that premiums for Medicare Parts B and D will continue to rise much faster than inflation, and the separate Medicare Supplemental Insurance Trust Fund that in part finances those benefits will require additional money from the general treasury. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement that the report should stimulate action on the part of lawmakers considering overall health care reform. “This isn't just another government report,” Ms. Sebelius commented. “It's a wake-up call for everyone who is concerned about Medicare and the health of our economy. And it's yet another sign that we can't wait for real, comprehensive health reform.”
Mental Heath Parity Comments Due
The federal government is seeking public comments before implementing a law that demands broader insurance coverage for mental health benefits. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 requires that health plans use the same rules for cost-sharing and visit limits in offering mental health and addiction treatment that they use for medical and surgical treatments. Together, HHS and the Labor Department said they want to know the financial and treatment limits that insurance plans currently impose, the plans' practices in determining medical necessity for and denying mental health benefits, and how plans handle out-of-network mental health benefits.
Families Can't Afford Insurance
The majority of uninsured American families cannot afford to buy nongroup health insurance, according to a study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study measured families' median net worth—their savings plus other assets, minus debt—rather than just family income. The AHRQ concluded that although an income-based model works well to estimate how many families will enroll in employer-based coverage, it overestimates nongroup health insurance enrollment for families that have low net worth and underestimates enrollment for families that have high net worth. Also, families without access to employer-based coverage were much more likely than those with such access to earn below 200% of the federal poverty level, the study showed.
Medical Homes Are Challenging
Transforming a primary care practice into a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) requires “epic whole-practice reimagination and redesign,” according to researchers who reported on one of the first demonstrations of the PCMH model. The results of the 2-year pilot project, which was launched in 2006 and supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians, showed that the technology that is needed to run a PCMH is especially difficult to implement. In addition, a successful transition to a PCMH requires physicians “to change their professional identity and the socialized ways they currently deliver primary care.” For example, physicians must learn to work in practice teams, change how they manage chronic care, incorporate a populationwide approach to health management, use evidence at the point of care, and partner with their patients, the researchers wrote in the May/June Annals of Family Medicine.
HHS Launches Lupus Campaign
The Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with the American College of Rheumatology and other health care organizations, has launched a national advertising campaign to educate women about lupus. “Despite its prevalence in the United States, lupus is rarely discussed and often misunderstood among women in our country,” said Dr. Wanda K. Jones, deputy assistant secretary for women's health at HHS. A recent study by the Ad Council found that about 80% of women aged 18–44 in the United States have little or no knowledge of lupus.
New Web Site Pushes Reform
Doctors for America, a new grassroots physician organization, is launching a campaign to get physicians' voices heard on health care reform. The “Voices of Physicians” campaign has collected and published comments from doctors nationwide at
Part A to Go Broke in 2017
The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money in 2017—2 years earlier than predicted last year—in part because the fund is collecting fewer payroll taxes during the recession, trustees of the fund announced in their annual report. If lawmakers don't make changes in the program, in 2017 the Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund could pay only 81% of anticipated benefits, and that would decline to about 50% in 2035 and 30% in 2080, the trustees said. The trustees also predicted that premiums for Medicare Parts B and D will continue to rise much faster than inflation, and the separate Medicare Supplemental Insurance Trust Fund that in part finances those benefits will require additional money from the general treasury. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement that the report should stimulate action on the part of lawmakers considering overall health care reform. “This isn't just another government report,” Ms. Sebelius commented. “It's a wake-up call for everyone who is concerned about Medicare and the health of our economy. And it's yet another sign that we can't wait for real, comprehensive health reform.”
Mental Heath Parity Comments Due
The federal government is seeking public comments before implementing a law that demands broader insurance coverage for mental health benefits. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 requires that health plans use the same rules for cost-sharing and visit limits in offering mental health and addiction treatment that they use for medical and surgical treatments. Together, HHS and the Labor Department said they want to know the financial and treatment limits that insurance plans currently impose, the plans' practices in determining medical necessity for and denying mental health benefits, and how plans handle out-of-network mental health benefits.
Families Can't Afford Insurance
The majority of uninsured American families cannot afford to buy nongroup health insurance, according to a study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study measured families' median net worth—their savings plus other assets, minus debt—rather than just family income. The AHRQ concluded that although an income-based model works well to estimate how many families will enroll in employer-based coverage, it overestimates nongroup health insurance enrollment for families that have low net worth and underestimates enrollment for families that have high net worth. Also, families without access to employer-based coverage were much more likely than those with such access to earn below 200% of the federal poverty level, the study showed.
Medical Homes Are Challenging
Transforming a primary care practice into a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) requires “epic whole-practice reimagination and redesign,” according to researchers who reported on one of the first demonstrations of the PCMH model. The results of the 2-year pilot project, which was launched in 2006 and supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians, showed that the technology that is needed to run a PCMH is especially difficult to implement. In addition, a successful transition to a PCMH requires physicians “to change their professional identity and the socialized ways they currently deliver primary care.” For example, physicians must learn to work in practice teams, change how they manage chronic care, incorporate a populationwide approach to health management, use evidence at the point of care, and partner with their patients, the researchers wrote in the May/June Annals of Family Medicine.
HHS Launches Lupus Campaign
The Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with the American College of Rheumatology and other health care organizations, has launched a national advertising campaign to educate women about lupus. “Despite its prevalence in the United States, lupus is rarely discussed and often misunderstood among women in our country,” said Dr. Wanda K. Jones, deputy assistant secretary for women's health at HHS. A recent study by the Ad Council found that about 80% of women aged 18–44 in the United States have little or no knowledge of lupus.
New Web Site Pushes Reform
Doctors for America, a new grassroots physician organization, is launching a campaign to get physicians' voices heard on health care reform. The “Voices of Physicians” campaign has collected and published comments from doctors nationwide at