Medicare

Think Tanks Offer Latest Social Security 'Reform' Plan (CongressNow, subscription only)

A new plan to reform Social Security released today would transform it into a true retirement insurance program to protect people against costs that exceed their means, according to a report released today. The proposal, presented jointly by The Heritage Foundation the New America Foundation, would mandate retirement savings and insurance,while scaling back benefits for those who don't need them. The proposal also would require… more

If you’ve never suffered the agony of low back pain, don’t worry -- chances are you will. About two-thirds of adults are hit with low back pain at some time in their lives, and for many the pain is sufficiently unbearable to send them hobbling into the doctor’s office. Yet although back pain is one of the most common conditions around, and although it costs billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, doctors still disagree over everything from how… more

Have you ever wondered why hospitals offer free cancer screening tests? You’ve heard the ads on radio, and seen them in newspapers, urging you to come to your local hospital for a free Pap smear, mammogram or prostate cancer blood test.

Hospitals would like you to think they are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, that free cancer screening is a public service intended solely to improve your health. But there may be another motive at work… more

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's 2007 board meeting, conference and dinner discussion were held March 13 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. This event brought together many of the nation's foremost fiscal policy experts from both parties to discuss the budgetary challenges facing the nation, and the prospects for addressing them before they turn into full-blown crises.

A detailed recap of day's conversations -- including the afternoon round table, OMB Director Robert Portman's spech,… more

Visits to the doctor often leave Katherine Beatty feeling sicker than when she left home...

Beatty is part of a Medicare experiment to see if old-fashioned house calls can improve the health of some of the agency's sickest beneficiaries while saving taxpayers money.

If the three-year pilot project in California and two other states is successful, Medicare officials likely would try the service on a larger scale before asking Congress to make it a permanent part of the federal government's health… more

WASHINGTON -- Warning to the wealthy: The cash-strapped federal government is targeting you.

Having already gone after people with higher incomes through the federal tax code and the Social Security system, the government next year will begin charging wealthier seniors more for doctors' care under Medicare.

The Bush administration, members of Congress and outside experts are all looking at other ways to raise new revenue from the rich.

If taxes must be raised or benefits cut, "you… more

Len Nichols, a highly respected healthcare economist, directs the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to expand health insurance coverage to all Americans while reining in costs and improving the efficiency of the overall health care system. Before joining New America, Dr. Nichols was the Vice… more

Jacob S. Hacker is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. An expert on the politics and character of U.S. social policy in historical and cross-national perspective, he is currently heading a Social Science Research Council project on the “privatization of risk.” In recent years, he has been a participant… more

President George W. Bush recently accomplished something almost no one else could in California politics: He got Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to put politics aside to pass a new law to meet a real need in real time.

Through the ill-prepared implementation of the new Medicare drug plan, Bush gave the governor a chance to work with the Legislature on an emergency fix to the new federal drug program. The poorest of elderly California seniors, who had… more

Whenever Americans stop to think about how they want to die, most conclude that they don't want to spend their last days in a hospital bed. They don't want to be stuck in an intensive care unit unnecessarily, or hooked up to machines if they can possibly avoid it. And they do not want a lot of tests and procedures, especially painful ones, if undergoing them won't improve their chances of surviving -- or at least make their passing a… more