Congress Delivers President Obama A "Doc Fix" Bill
After realizing that combining the "Doc Fix" provision with a Jobs Creation Package was not politically feasible, House Democrats promptly passed a six-month solution to the on-going cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians. The temporary fix passed the House last week by a vote of 415-to-1. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services had already started to process Medicare claims at the 21%-lower rate - causing severe financial damage to medical practices Nationally. All prior claims will be resubmitted and paid at the new reimbursement rates. Additionally, the bill allows for a 2.2% raise for physician reimbursement rates. Despite this small-scale victory, there were no celebrations on Capitol Hill, as the same problem is on the verge of occurring yet again. In December, Medicare physicians are scheduled to face a 23% cut in reimbursement rates, increasing up to 30% by January. Policy experts, Medicare beneficiaries and doctors alike are grateful for the fix, but believe that a permanent solution must be implemented. "The Alliance is pleased that Congress has put politics aside in order to protect the quality of care that seniors receive," Alliance Executive Director Edward Coyle said. "We hope that during the next six-months, Congress will be able pass a permanent solution to this recurring problem, and we still hope for a jobs and economic relief package."
President Obama Warns Insurers About Rate Hikes
An AFL-CIO blog post has repeated a warning from President Obama that "health insurance companies should not use the new Heath Care Reform Law as an 'opportunity to enact unjustifiable rate increases.'" The president made his remarks at a White House ceremony marking the 90-day anniversary of signing the landmark bill, which he termed "a true patient's bill of rights." The warning came a day after a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed that health insurers are raising prices by an average of 20% for working-age adults who are not covered on the job and who buy their own policies. At the ceremony, Obama referred to Anthem Blue Cross of California attempting to raise its rates by 39%, before caving in to pressure. Now, says Obama, "CEOs need to know that they're going to be required to publicly justify unreasonable premium increases on your websites, as well as the law's new website - healthcare.gov. As we set up the exchanges, we'll be watching closely and we'll fully support states if they exercise their review authority to keep excessively expensive plans out of their insurance exchanges." Under the law's new rules, Obama said the insurance companies' "worst abuses will be banned forever."
A Number Of States - Including New York - Are Cutting Pension Costs In A Variety of Ways, Which Hurt Retirees
A recent New York Times report on budget cuts and pensions stated that Illinois has raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of any state. Arizona, New York, Missouri and Mississippi will be making people work more years to earn pensions and Virginia is requiring employees to pay into the state pension fund for the first time. Nearly all of the cuts so far apply only to workers not yet hired. An exception is Colorado, which has imposed cuts on its current workers - not just future hires, and even on people who have already retired. The retirees have sued to block the reduction. Illinois is putting less money into its pension fund now, starting with $300 million this year - raising the risk of a collapse long before the real savings start to materialize. Some other states are raising employee contributions. New Jersey officials are quietly looking into whether it, too, could reduce the benefits that current employees can expect to accumulate in the future. To read the story, go to http://nyti.ms/d3d0bX.
