Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
This weekend, the House is reportedly set to vote on their version of healthcare reform – H.R. 3962. The bill is a “monster”; nearly 2,000 pages long. The title belies the fact that the Bill doesn’t just attempt to create “affordable health care” – it goes much, much further. For example, embedded within the hundreds of … Read more
Earlier today, Speaker Pelosi introduced the re-tooled House version of healthcare reform, now titled The Affordable Health Care Act. The 2,000 page bill is the result of weeks of backroom negotiations designed to forge a possible consensus, principally among Democrats, and to financially wrangle, a targeted budget neutral spending level. According to Pelosi, the Bill … Read more
On October 1, the SNF industry received a 1.1% reduction in Medicare payments. On October 13th, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of Healthcare Reform, commonly known as the Baucus Bill. While the Baucus Bill is the least penalizing to the industry, of the major health reform bills waiting in Congress, it is destined for the Senate shredder … Read more
The Senate Finance Committee this afternoon, on a vote of 14-9, approved the Baucus Bill out of committee, sending it theoretically to a floor vote. Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, was the lone Republican vote in support. The Bill, a center of recent controversy in terms of its lack of reported details, incomplete … Read more
This afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office released a statement saying that the Senate Finance Committee Reform Bill (the Baucus Bill) prices out at $829 billion over ten years. At this price-tag, given the revenue assumptions (fees, cuts, taxes, etc.) contained in the Bill, the CBO estimates that the Bill actually produces a modest deficit reduction … Read more
The Senate Finance Committee voted yesterday to eliminate the public option from its reform bill (aka the Baucus Bill) by a margin of 15 to 8. All Republicans and a hand-full of Democrats voted against inclusion. Of note, the Bill’s author, Senator Baucus voted for the removal of the public option stating that in his … Read more
After weeks/months of meetings, Senator Baucus of Montana representing the “gang of six” (three Democrats and three Republicans) released the Senate Finance Committee version of “healthcare reform”. What started as a bi-partisan sub-committee alternative to the House version (HR 3200) ended as essentially, a Baucus bill; legislation lacking any real support from Senate Democrats and … Read more
I know this is supposed to be a blog about healthcare issues, primarily that which falls in the post-acute, long-term care and senior housing world but some stuff in the news right now is just too hard to ignore. After all, healthcare reform does affect long-term care and post-acute care directly and economics, especially the … Read more
Not unexpectedly, the politicians are all a “buzz” about healthcare reform right now. The President even did a live radio/television talk-show to “clarify” what healthcare reform is really about; to translate as it were. From CNN to Fox to certainly every Sunday talk show, politicians or members of the President’s cabinet are trying desperately to … Read more
Recess – when I was a kid it was the best part of school. Recess was a period of task abandonment; a temporary reprieve from the classroom engagement and the pedagogy. Unfortunately for Congress, recess means a time to confront constituents and to engage on the home front. For members of the House facing early … Read more