The CBO’s June 16th letter to Senator Conrad is an excellent summary of health reform and cost control ideas and implementation issues.
Congressional Budget Office has responded briefly to the proposals by several health industry segments to create cost savings of up to two trillion dollars over ten years.
The Congressional Budget Office’s initial assessment of Senator Kennedy’s Affordable health Choices Act is that it would increase deficits by about one trillion dollars over the next ten years, but only increase the number of covered citizens by about a net 16 million people.
Republican Senators have now introduced a bill to essentially gut federal funding or use of comparative effectiveness research, continuing an attack on the proposed expansion of such research for the purpose of controlling costs
One of the controversial provisions in some health care reform proposals has been creation of a public plan, often analogized to Medicare, which would be an option offered alongside private insurance plans.
Several prominent health industry segments have issued a follow-up statement identifying more specifically where they believe health care cost savings can be achieved.
A not-for-profit group that has been a vigorous proponent of health care reform has released a report, Hidden Health Tax, on the costs of the uninsured and who ultimately bears that cost.
The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, in conjunction with a number of physician specialty organizations, have each released statements regarding proposals to help control health care costs by changing, even reducing payments to providers.
Massachusetts has become such a bellweather for health reform that every report analyzing the program’s outcomes is eagerly anticipated. Health Affairs, vol. 28, page w578 (May 2009), looks at some of the results as of the fall of 2008.
The Congressional Budget Office’s most recent missive on health reform (available here) discusses the budgetary treatment of health care reform proposals.
In informal responses to inquiries about the use of health risk assessments and wellness incentives, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has indicated that it will use the Americans with Disabilities Act and its general powers to limit the ability of employers to enact programs designed to improve the health of employee populations and control health care costs.
The Los Angeles Times ran an article on May 17, 2009, regarding Cesarean births. Birth services are a microcosm of the problems in the broader health system.