News in brief - Nov. 8, 2004

Part of Social Security increases to go to Medicare - Health centers do well by doing good - Panel rules against consolidating suits over hospital charges

Part of Social Security increases to go to Medicare

For the typical senior, nearly half of the 2.7% increase in Social Security benefits in 2005 will go toward offsetting next year's hike in Medicare premiums, federal officials said. The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will average $25 per month. Seniors enrolled in Medicare Part B will have $11.60 deducted from monthly checks to pay for a 17.4% increase.

The Medicare premium rise is due in part to greater spending on physician services next year.

"The 2005 increase in Medicare patients' premiums pays for many essential enhancements to the Medicare program for our nation's seniors, including a preventive physical exam for every new Medicare patient, enhanced cardiovascular and diabetes screenings, increased access to physicians and other health professionals, and a needed infusion to reserves to protect the very future of the Medicare program," said AMA President John C. Nelson, MD, MPH.

Congressional Democrats used the announcement to renew calls for a cap on annual Medicare premium increases of 25% of Social Security cost-of-living updates.

Health centers do well by doing good

Federally qualified health centers save money for the health care system by providing primary care services and reducing emergency department visits for uninsured Americans, says a new study published in the October issue of the journal Health Services Research. The study found that uninsured people living near the centers are less likely to have unmet health needs, delay seeing a physician, make an emergency visit or have a hospital stay.

President Bush has set the goal of doubling the capacity of community health centers, and the Dept. of Health and Human Services recently announced $49 million in grants for the creation of 76 new health centers across the country. HHS estimates that the new centers will serve an additional 488,000 uninsured Americans.

Panel rules against consolidating suits over hospital charges

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Oct. 20 ruled that federal lawsuits accusing nonprofit hospitals of unfairly overcharging uninsured patients will not be consolidated into one lawsuit. The ruling pleased the American Hospital Assn., which saw consolidation as a legal maneuver to benefit trial lawyers at the expense of hundreds of local hospitals.

"The panel's decision means that we can now move to the merits of the case, and hopefully this decision will lead to a speedy and fair conclusion of the cases," the AHA said in a statement. The AHA is named as a defendant in many of the lawsuits that have been filed against hospitals nationwide.

Lawyers suing the hospitals on behalf of uninsured patients said they wanted the cases consolidated to centralize and streamline the court process instead of trying the cases in different courts around the country.

"Regardless of the procedural path or the location of the individual venues, we are determined to require the defendant nonprofit hospital systems and hospitals to fulfill their legal obligation to stop their discriminatory pricing against the uninsured," the lawyers said in a statement.