Medicare

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

Director, Health Policy Program

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

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

CRFB's suggested questions on the deficit, federal debt, allocation of resources, Social Security, Medicare and the overall size of government. For the full list, please see the attached PDF file.

Senator John McCain has written that Pete Peterson's new book "provides a clear, concise and unvarnished look at America's political and fiscal deterioration." Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker praises it for showing how "our fiscal profligacy and growing dependence on foreign savings cannot be sustained." Former Senator Bob Kerrey notes that, "

Tomorrow, President Bush is set to sign Medicare's biggest overhaul in 38 years into law. But after watching the shrill yet perfunctory debate that culminated last week in the passage of the bill, even close observers of Washington politics can be forgiven for wondering just what exactly it was all about.

On one side, congressional Republicans and President Bush described the $400-billion legislation as a moderate, sensible means of providing long-overdue drug coverage to seniors. On the other, Democratic opponents… more

If media reports are to be believed, "means-testing" Medicare is the newest Capitol Hill answer to the embattled program's troubles. According to the Washington Post and New York Times, Congress is considering tripling Medicare Part B premiums for the very wealthiest of beneficiaries, from about $700 a year to more than $2,100.

But even though raising Medicare premiums for the wealthiest beneficiaries might sound like an easy way to improve the program's finances -- and make it more egalitarian, to boot… more