http://www.heritage.org/static/rss/health-care.xmlHealth Care - The Heritage Foundationen-US© Copyright 2012info@heritage.orgRSS Generator {54E742AE-F9F9-4AC2-862F-72E4A5521BB7}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/2012-index-of-dependence-on-governmentThe 2012 Index of Dependence on Government highlights the gathering fiscal storm clouds. Unsustainable increases in dependent populations predate the recent recession—and continuing economic morass—and have continued to rise since the economy collapsed in 2008 and 2009. There is one silver lining to those clouds: A few policymakers and independent public policy groups have advanced plans for restoring fiscal balance in Washington. Among them is The Heritage Foundation. Heritage calls its fiscal plan Saving the American Dream. The Heritage plan reforms and funds those government programs that matter most to people who need the government’s help, and it frees the private sector to create the millions of jobs that will dramatically reduce the growth of dependence on government.Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:33:00 -0500{87FF1525-1D13-4971-9CC3-0FE56E1C5059}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/the-top-five-flawed-arguments-against-premium-supportThe introduction of the bipartisan Wyden–Ryan premium support plan for Medicare ensures that reform of the government’s largest health entitlement program will continue to be a major topic of debate in 2012.Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:51:00 -0500{5CE01493-CFF7-495A-AE3F-7418F2F272AC}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/six-key-elements-of-medicare-premium-support-proposalsPremium support proposals to reform the Medicare program would provide beneficiaries with a financial contribution to purchase Medicare coverageTue, 07 Feb 2012 16:43:00 -0500{17D6F48B-3B00-4B84-9424-E7AB6AF9EAE3}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/premium-support-is-incremental-not-radical-medicare-reformMedicare reform is inevitable because its demands on the federal budget are unsustainable. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:17:00 -0500{E46A94B7-9D74-4207-B8D9-2072697B9E38}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/understanding-medicare-premium-support-and-its-key-featuresFor the next generation of taxpayers and retirees, there is no better option than premium support. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:31:00 -0500{14ABC55E-A73E-4D90-BE40-A3E0B21DE4EF}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/02/how-cmss-final-regulations-for-accountable-care-organizations-fall-flatThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued final regulations for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The outcome is disappointingWed, 01 Feb 2012 16:59:00 -0500{00133E21-776F-42B6-8EE1-F7C0EB47F04F}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/testimony/2011/07/saving-medicaid-a-path-to-comprehensive-medicaid-reformThe joint federal–state health program for the poor is fueling the federal entitlement crisis, bankrupting state budgets, and delivering substandard care to enrollees while crowding out private health insurance options for manyWed, 01 Feb 2012 16:47:00 -0500{89253502-CD2E-465B-B027-4D9D2129971B}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/multimedia/audio/2012/02/moffit-podcast-2-1-12In this week's Heritage in Focus podcast, Dr. Bob Moffit discusses his new paper, "Obamacare Ends Medicare As We Know It." David Weinberger hosts.Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500{0E84BD01-9728-4033-A698-316DABDA679E}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/01/patient-centered-outcomes-research-institutes-health-care-prioritiesThe Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) priorities do not change concerns that its findings will be used to limit treatment options. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:45:00 -0500{F9B08311-575B-4972-8FDF-81D41B43E2EB}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/factsheets/2012/01/obamacare-obama-ends-medicare-as-we-know-itObamacare makes massive changes to Medicare. Obamacare contains more than 160 provisions to the program that increases government’s control over the delivery of care, hits doctors with unsustainable payment cuts, and leaves taxpayers with higher deficits.Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:03:00 -0500{C6128B40-6190-4C03-A5E7-F41EAA76C740}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/01/quantifying-costs-to-states-of-noncompliance-with-the-ppacas-medicaid-expansionIn March 2012, two years after the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Supreme Court will hear challenges to the federal health care legislation. One issue the court will take up is whether the PPACA’s Medicaid expansion constitutes a coercive infringement on state sovereignty by the federal government. Relevant to that dispute is the economic burden to a state that—in the face of the impending PPACA-mandated Medicaid expansion—decides to end its participation in Medicaid, thus forfeiting its entire federal Medicaid funding. This Heritage Foundation analysis attempts to calculate that burden.Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:31:00 -0500{7B79AF0D-4A92-4B39-A77C-DEE86264A6AB}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2012/01/how-competition-improves-quality-the-case-of-medicare-advantageIn 2003, the Medicare Modernization Act created the Medicare Advantage program, which allowed seniors to choose coverage from private health plans. Both recent research published in The American Journal of Managed Care by Niall Brennan and Mark Shepard and another analysis by America’s Health Insurance Plans use HEDIS measures and state-based data on hospital utilization, respectively, to compare the quality of care received by enrollees in Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare fee-for-service. The studies found the new program performed better than traditional Medicare on a number of measures, including delivery of care car and hospital utilization.Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:05:00 -0500{C2FA88BA-0BD1-416B-B41D-49BA36ED887C}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/12/empowering-patients-as-key-decision-makersThe current trend of rapidly rising health care costs is unsustainable. Many proposed reforms to curb spending rely on some type of rationing imposed by an unaccountable government body. A better alternative would be to allow individual consumers to make their own decisions about care, including the self-rationing of medical services, based on cost and their own desires. Such a policy is compatible with American values of limited government and individual liberty and responsibility. State and federal policymakers should adopt measures to facilitate personal control of health care decisions.Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:01:00 -0500{D3083A9B-7080-49D6-903C-F86FCB1A7D7A}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/12/the-prescription-drug-user-fee-act-history-and-reauthorization-issues-for-2012Beginning in the 1990s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made significant progress in reviewing applications for new drugs and medical devices in a timely manner, but under the most recent reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), the review process has become increasingly unpredictable, uncertain, and inefficient. This harms both patients, who are denied access to life-saving drugs, and the companies that research and develop these productsWed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500{ED7E4C9E-2080-4F4A-8BBF-4E78778B44D4}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/12/how-medicare-price-controls-have-contributed-to-drug-shortagesMedicare price fixing is contributing to drug shortages. The solution is market-based reform. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500{845784B2-DF29-4D6E-961B-C8E146E9A8FA}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/12/how-to-bring-sanity-to-our-mental-health-systemWith America’s prisons crowded with mentally ill inmates, Medicaid costs for the mentally ill soaring, and homeless Americans with schizophrenia on our streets, it is clear that our mental health system is dysfunctional. The Center for Policy Innovation invited Dr. E. Fuller Torrey to offer his solutions to this crisis. Dr. Torrey is a leading psychiatrist and researcher and has written widely on the problems associated with U.S. mental health policy.Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:52:00 -0500{2A5BBF45-BFAA-4B93-B824-249A79AB8F66}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/multimedia/video/2011/12/moffit-fnc-12-19-11Bob Moffit discusses Medicare reform.Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500{AA87BB88-391D-40A8-B15B-A7D5BDEF324D}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/testimony/2011/12/effects-of-the-ppacas-minimum-loss-ratio-regulationsThese undesirable and unintended consequences of the PPACA’s minimum loss ratio regulations offer an object lesson in how greater information transparency is often a better public policy solution than new regulations. Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:11:00 -0500{A1498637-D57A-4011-9465-68FB2F2282AC}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/11/government-price-controls-for-health-careThe Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—the “super committee”—created under the Budget Control Act of 2011 is tasked with proposing a strategy for reducing the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. If the committee fails, an automatic cut of 2 percent is authorized for Medicare, other domestic programs, and national security and defense budgets. In carrying out its mission, the super committee should focus on the main drivers of long-term runaway spending: health care entitlement programs. All Members of Congress should also bear in mind the importance of not enacting yet more harmful policies.Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:47:00 -0500{2991DBB7-26D0-410A-B7F0-E1502FB5FA5A}http://www.heritage.org/sitecore/content/home/research/reports/2011/11/the-second-stage-of-medicare-reform-moving-to-a-premium-support-programMedicare is in deep trouble. Major change is inevitable. But major Medicare reform must address the needs of a huge and diverse generation of new retirees, not merely enhance the power of the federal bureaucracy or protect the narrow interests of politically connected providers. The Heritage Foundation has developed such a reform—a variant of defined-contribution financing commonly called “premium support”—in its comprehensive budget proposal, Saving the American Dream. The Heritage proposal not only restores Medicare solvency, it also achieves a balanced budget in 10 years, and maintains it, without raising taxes.Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:23:00 -0500