Health care a big topic during ABC News debate: “Romney’s most memorable line of the night came at the goading of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who accused Romney of promoting a federal health care mandate — something Romney says is not true. Romney pressed his case. “You know what? You’ve raised that before, Rick, and you’re simply wrong,” he said. Then he bet Perry $10,000 on the matter. Perry did not take the bet.” [NPR]
Gingrich’s evolving position on the mandate: “Initially, it appears that Gingrich latched onto an individual mandate to oppose a Democratic president’s health-care reform initiative. Then, for a number of years, he continued to support it — until another Democratic president adopted the concept for his own health-care reform initiative. Gingrich suddenly did not like an individual mandate as much.” [Washington Post]
GOP goes after hospitals: “One of the surprising new offsets in the House GOP’s “doc fix” bill is a measure to lower the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) adjustment payments that provide extra money to hospitals serving a significantly disproportionate number of poor patients, hospital sources say.” [Inside Health Policy]
Vermont launches bundled payments program: “The State of Vermont and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems recently submitted a letter of intent to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to try different pilot programs that involve “bundling” payments. All hospitals throughout the state are involved in this measure in some way or another, although the specifics of which hospital will do which type of program are still up in the air.” [VT Digger]
Florida’s Scott slashes safety-net health programs: Last week, Florida Governor Rick Scott “proposed a different tactic: slashing $1.8 billion in Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals, a move he said would free up more money for public schools. Scott, who founded the private health-care company HCA/Columbia, has publicly pushed for a panel to review whether public hospitals should be privatized.” [Orlando Sentinel]
Texas Democrats fight implementation delays: “Texas Democrats and some public policy groups are pushing back against the Texas Department of Insurance for requesting a delay in the implementation of insurance changes required by federal health care reform.” [Texas Tribune]
Skepticism over health savings: “As hospitals, doctors and health insurers pursue integration strategies to squeeze costs and strengthen their positions, veteran health-care executives warn that nearly all the strategies were attempted decades ago, with decidedly mixed results.” [WSJ]
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