Preparing for a Health Care Summit: The Policy & Practice Podcast

Photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons User Steve Rhodes.

With no movement on the Democrat’s health reform plan in Congress, President Obama has been out touting his bipartisan health care summit, which is set for Feb. 25. And there’s at least some indication that the President is open to considerating adding some new elements to the bill.  At a recent press conference, he said he would be willing to work on medical malpractice reform if it could help bring down costs.

Democrats are also continuing to hammer away at health insurers. The administration recently took California’s Anthem Blue Cross and its parent company Wellpoint, Inc., to task for a planned rate increase on California customers in the individual market. The public relations beating seems to have taken a toll because the company announced it would delay its planned rate hike for two months.

Hear more about these developments in this week’s edition of the Policy & Practice Podcast.

Take a listen:

— Mary Ellen Schneider (on Twitter @MaryEllenNY) 

A Time to Amend… the Policy & Practice Podcast

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)

From Washington, D.C.:

After a long summer of waiting, journalists, policy wonks, and the public can finally start poring over the details of the Senate Finance Committee’s version of health reform legislation. But the work is really just beginning for the committee’s chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D.-Mont.), who this week will have to manage debate on more than 500 amendments to his bill while also attempting to win GOP support and keeping his own caucus together.

Find out what’s in this draft bill, what business leaders think of reform efforts, and why physicians are still pushing for medical liability reform in this week’s installment of the Policy & Practice Podcast.

Take a listen and share your thoughts.

—Mary Ellen Schneider (on Twitter @MaryEllenNY)

One Vote Down, Many to Go: The Policy & Practice Podcast

From Congressional hearings, press briefings, and related health care events around Washington, D.C.

Technical quirks caused us to miss our Monday post, but here, one day late, is your weekly installment of the Policy & Practice Podcast. Last week, a Senate committee passed its bill, the AMA unexpectedly weighed in, and the President added his two cents. Take a listen: In just 2 minutes, you’ll be all caught up on the progress of health care reform.

Policy & Practice Podcast, July 20

Like what you hear? Check this space every Monday for your weekly 2-minute podcast. And let us know what you think!

—Denise Fulton (@denisefulton on Twitter)

A billion here, a billion there: Soon you’re talking real money

From congressional hearings, press briefings, and assorted heath care events in Washington, D.C.

Pardon the paraphrase of the late Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.), the Grammy-winning orator who eventually lent his name to a Senate Office Building, but health reform last week focused on billions and billions of dollars. Where will they come from? How will we spend them? 

Want to know? Take a listen to the Policy & Practice Podcast. And remember to tune into this space every Monday for your 2-minute synposis of the most important goings on in health care reform.

Policy & Practice Podcast, 7/13/09

 

—Denise Fulton (@denisefulton on Twitter)

Image via flickr user Adam Kuban under Creative Commons license

Bipartisanship? Not so much

From the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee hearing on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission March report to Congress, Longworth House Office building.

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Commissioner Glenn Hackbarth found himself doing an Irish jig on St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday as he fielded requests, comments, and complaints from Democrats and Republicans on the Health Subcommittee that fell along clearly predictable party lines. 

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons User Adam Baker

Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark  (D-Calif.) set the tone by stating that health care reform started with Medicare and that the private sector had done a poor job with the small portion of the program it has been offered (known as Medicare Advantage).  The ranking Republican member, Wally Herger (Calif.) slammed back with allegations that Medicare is woefully inefficient, that it underpays physicians and hospitals, is rife with fraud and abuse, and that it’s the reason why health care costs so much for private citizens.

“I would strongly urge my friends on the other side to consider the evidence we’ll hear today — about the significant problems in the Medicare program — before trying to force 120 million Americans who currently have private helath insurance into another government-run health plan,” said Mr. Herger.

For the most part, committee members — both Democrats and Republicans — did not seem to actually want Mr. Hackbarth’s opinion or input on anything.   But Mr. Hackbarth is no potted plant.  He managed to give thoughtful responses on a variety of issues — from whether the Part D drug benefit has been a success or a failure to the appropriateness of geographically-determined payment adjustments to the necessity of cost-effectiveness research and how it should be used.

At one point, he was chastised for MedPAC’s supposed lack of diversity.  “You got a Texas guy on there?” asked Republican Rep. Sam Johnson.  Mr. Hackbarth responded no, but said there was a representative from the South.

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user exfordy

Although Rep. Herger had suggested initially that Committee members should focus on areas of agreement in the hopes that it could “build the goodwill that could lead to a truly bipartisan health reform proposal,” it was clear by the end of the hearing that goodwill seemed to be in fairly short supply.

– Alicia Ault