Health Care Reform

The Challenge of Medicare Insolvency

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Medicare Insolvency Projections Explained

Medicare insolvency projections shape provider strategy, payment risk, and policy debate. Here’s what healthcare leaders should watch next.

Medicare Reform Analysis Update

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The real Medicare reimbursement reform analysis starts with a hard truth: this is no longer a debate about payment mechanics. It is a debate about who absorbs risk, which care settings remain financially viable, and whether federal policy can restrain spending without destabilizing access. For operators in post-acute care, senior living, home health, hospice, and … Read more

Program: Medicare is Bankrupting America

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Last week I had the chance to work with Freedom Hub on a program called Medicare is Bankrupting America. It was a great discussion/webinar covering lots of economic and health policy information. The program is now available to watch on Rumble or X. The Rumble link is here: https://rumble.com/v767s6y-medicare-is-bankrupting-america.html The X link is here: https://x.com/freedom_hub1/status/2026349274011685014/video/1 … Read more

Trump’s Healthcare Policy Plan: A Review

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With both houses of Congress unable to codify some plan to address the evaporating premium supports under the ACA (COVID era addition), President Trump put forth his framework known as The Great Healthcare Plan. For more on the ACA extension/premium supports and related Congressional plans/details, see my earlier post here: https://rhislop3.com/the-aca-subsidies-where-we-are-whats-next/ On January 15, the … Read more

Site Neutral Payments Kick-0ff!

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As of January 1, 2026, the scope of Medicare’s site-neutral payment policy expands to include drug administration services—such as chemotherapy and other infused therapies—furnished in excepted (grandfathered) off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) of hospitals. Under the CY 2026 OPPS final rule published by CMS: CY 2026 OPPS and Ambulatory Surgical Center Final Rule – Hospital Price … Read more

The ACA Subsidies: Where we Are, What’s Next

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On December 11,2025, the Senate rejected competing bills addressing Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, resulting in the expiration of tax credits and the prospect of higher health insurance premiums for many Americans in 2026. Both a Democratic bill intended to extend these subsidies and a Republican proposal involving Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) failed to pass, … Read more

Medicaid Spending Reductions, Part III

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Policy Options and Alternatives to Reduce Medicaid Costs This is part three of a series I wrote on Medicaid spending reductions (proposed). Recent Republican budgets have targeted Medicaid for $800 plus billion in spending reductions. This final post in the series covers the likely choices available from a policy perspective, to achieve the savings target. … Read more

Friday Feature: The Economic Impact in Aging Countries

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TGIF! The U.S. is aging. Its median age is 37.7, just behind China’s median age of 37.9. Comparatively, the U.S. would be considered young in relationship to Japan where the median age is 48.4. While it is true that the Japanese have a longer life expectancy than the average American (84.6 years vs. 77.29 years), … Read more

Rising Health Care Costs – A Serious Issue, Election Implications?

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Long time readers/followers know that I from time to time, address health care costs. I follow economics generally and write about the same, especially when there are intersectional issues to address. As we are heading into a presidential election cycle (we are in the early innings) and, issues like health care costs in this country … Read more