House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare and Repeals the Health Law
House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a proposed budget for 2016 that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act and reaches balance in 10 years, challenging Republicans in Congress to make good on their promises to deeply cut federal spending. The House proposal leans heavily on the policy prescriptions that Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin outlined when he was budget chairman, according to senior House Republican aides and members of Congress who were not authorized to speak in advance of the official release. (Jonathan Weisman/ The New York Times)
Potent Groups Take Sides on Bipartisan House Medicare Plan
A budding bipartisan deal to shelter physicians from Medicare cuts, championed by the House's two top leaders, is drawing powerful allies including the American Medical Association and a rainbow of conservative and liberal groups. House aides released an outline of the emerging measure late Friday, and it confirmed what lawmakers, aides and lobbyists have described for days. The package is studded with provisions that draw many Democrats, including two more years of money for the Children's Health Insurance Program and community health centers, plus language boosting Medicare costs for some beneficiaries that appeals to Republicans eager to retool the costly program's finances. (Alan Fram/ The Associated Press)
Long-Sought ‘Doc Fix’ Funding Agreement Reached
House Republican and Democratic leaders Thursday rolled out legislation to permanently fix a formula for calculating Medicare reimbursements to doctors and other health-care providers, a deal supporters say will stand a chance of passage given its bipartisan support. The legislation, set for a floor vote next week, would replace the current formula, which was established by a 1997 budget law that tied pay increases for doctors and other providers to increases in economic growth. (Siobhan Hughes/The Wall Street Journal)
Obama Slams GOP Budget Plans as Hurtful to Middle Class
President Barack Obama pressed the case for his economic vision Wednesday, calling Republican budget blueprints a return to failed policies while saying he had helped pull the country out of a deep recession. Mr. Obama made an aggressive pitch for his budget and domestic policy proposals, telling members of the City Club of Cleveland that the job growth and economic progress on his watch were no accident. ( Colleen McCain Nelson/The Wall Street Journal)
Federal EHR Efforts Draw Criticism at Senate Hearing
The federal electronic health-record incentive program has produced too few benefits for the cost involved and imposed overly harsh mandates on providers, senators of both parties said Tuesday during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. The program started in 2009 by giving providers and hospitals cash in exchange for using EHR systems. Its goal was to improve care by moving data seamlessly through the healthcare system, but, “The evidence suggests these goals haven't been reached,” said Committee Chair Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. (Darius Tahir/ Modern Healthcare)
