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Medicare Part B premium support passes House

The House passed legislation Sept. 24 that would keep Medicare Part B premiums at the current rate rather than going up by as much as 20%.

Due to automatic provisions built into current Medicare law, more than a quarter of the 42 million people enrolled in Part B are due to see their premiums rise to between $110 and $120 a month. The Medicare Premium Fairness Act would keep premiums at $96.40 per month.

The legislation, introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D, Calif.) and Rep. Dina Titus (D, Nev.), passed by a 406-18 vote. "This bill will protect seniors and the disabled from substantial premium hikes at a time when there is no increase in their Social Security checks," Waxman said.

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Calif. federal court again rejects Medicaid payment cuts

A federal appeals court on Sept. 23 declined to reconsider its earlier decision halting a 10% across-the-board Medicaid payment cut to physicians and other health care professionals.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July unanimously ruled that the rate reductions violated federal laws requiring that payment levels be sufficient to guarantee equal access to care. State officials asked the full appeals court to reconsider its decision, but judges rejected the request. The state is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An attorney for the California Medical Assn., which backed the legal challenge of the cuts, said the recent ruling could mean good news for another round of lawsuits state physicians and others brought against a second round of payment cuts the state implemented in March.

Those cases are pending before the 9th Circuit. Oral arguments have not been scheduled. A February trial court order halted most of the payment reductions until the case is resolved.

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Without system reform, millions more will be uninsured, report says

The number of uninsured Americans would increase from 46.3 million in 2008 to 53.1 million in 2014 and 57 million in 2019 under the best-case scenario in an unreformed health system, according to a recent study.

Under a worst-case scenario, 57.7 million people would be uninsured in 2014 and 65.7 million in 2019, states an analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute released on Sept. 30. The report gives state-by-state predictions on insurance coverage, public program enrollment and health spending (www.rwjf.org/files/research/49148.pdf).

The worst case assumes slow income growth and high increases in health care costs. The best case would happen with a 5.1% unemployment rate, faster income growth and slower hikes in health costs.

"Now is the time to act, because delaying reform makes the problem worse," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's president and CEO.

The print version of this content appeared in the Oct 12, 2009 issue of American Medical News.

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