Toward the end of the 1st quarter, the Supreme Court should have heard challenges to the health care reform law. Has to be exciting in the midst of an election year! The 26 states behind the challenge are hoping the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to strike down the law will stand. Justice Roberts said they have allocated 5 ½ hours of arguments on the constitutionality of mandating individuals to purchase health insurance and related issues. ...

As the Feds take over control of the health care industry, interestingly, the Washington Post reports “Reforms meant to streamline military healthcare for severely wounded service members have in many cases worsened the bureaucracy, causing duplication, confusion and turf battles.” “The proliferation of programs intended to better manage healthcare, may actually have the opposite effect,’” GAO Director Debra Draper told a congressional committee last month. Ouch, that’s not good timing!

Over the past year, opinions were evenly split on ...

The government said 2.5 million young adults who were uninsured now have received health insurance because of that law, which allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. “Young adult” is losing its meaning!

Fraud prosecutions reached an astounding high last year, increasing 69 percent from the year earlier!

Medicare will pay for screening and counseling services to help obese patients lose weight has opened an old debate about who can best help people slim down. Seen ...

If you were a doctor, how would you like your New Year gift to be a 27% cut in fees for treating Medicare patients if Congress doesn’t take action before January 1, 2012? That could undermine health care for millions of elderly and disabled beneficiaries. It appears that a two-year fix is the most doctors can expect for the holidays. All of this is simply a mega shell game involving hundreds of millions of dollars as well ...

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners proposes that Congress and HHS place broker fees outside the 20% carriers are allowed for administrative costs. The resolution, approved by a vote of 26-20-5, was quite contentious with several dissenting commissioners, including California’s Bill Jones. Those arguing against the resolution would prefer brokers not be compensated and the $1 billion paid to them now, instead be rebated to customers. If we didn’t earn those fees, I would be on a ...

Seriously, I have been preaching lifestyle choices as THE greatest single contributor to double digit increases in medical costs for years. Even though large entities’ plans are more grandiose (and socially motivated); we do share the common, measurable goal of behavioral changes. This is just the beginning of actually DOING something about it instead of just talking about it. Far less than 10% of employees drive two-thirds of the costs which are centered on 5 manageable chronic ...

David Brookes, in an opinion column in the New York Times speaks for me as well. “This fiscal crisis is about many things, but one of them is our inability to face death — our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months.” Brooks asserts, “We have the illusion that in spending so much on health care we are radically improving the quality of our lives. We have the illusion that through ...

A Seattle Times guest columnist writes that the Obama Administration “recently announced it wants to spy on your doctor. The government planned to pay ‘mystery patients’ to call doctors and find out whether they are willing to accept the prices set by Medicaid and Medicare.” After much criticism from consumers and lawmakers, “government officials temporarily suspended the calls.” Stark says, “Federal officials sending fake patients to spy on doctors is not only unethical, it is one more disturbing indicator of ...

Politico reports, “Critics and supporters of the health reform law have one thing in common: Neither group knows what the most wide-reaching changes of the law look like in the real world. Those changes — to the insurance market, to patient care and to control of Medicare costs — simply don’t exist yet.” It points out that the healthcare “law does have the potential to radically change the way the average American experiences the health care system. And each ...

Sister Carol Keehan, speaking as president of the 600-member umbrella group of Catholic hospitals, said, “What we are trying to do is make workable the conscience protection the administration says it is willing to give.” At issue is the mandate for all health plans to provide cost free birth control. More than the ultimate outcome of this issue, it is of more interest to me that both hospitals as well as higher education, for the most part, sprang ...