WBUR radio and Kaiser Health News report that the Massachusetts Senate has quietly approved a measure requiring doctors and nurses to discuss end of life options with patients who have a terminal illness. The Palliative Care Awareness bill was included as part of a sweeping health reform measure and, remarkably, was not controversial. It was supported by both Republicans and Democrats and [...]
The fate of many important health reforms aimed directly at seniors is in the hands of the Supreme Court. While the public has focused most of its attention on whether the High Court will strike down the individual mandate in the 2010 health reform law, the justices today are hearing arguments about another critical issue: What should happen to the rest of the Affordable Care [...]
Eighty-give percent of physicians say that unmet social needs lead to worse health outcomes, according to a new survey sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. But only 20 percent are confident in their ability to help patients and their families meet those needs. Talk about good news and bad news! The survey asked about a wide range of social [...]
This week’s failure of the deficit super committee may have saved Medicare and Medicaid from spending reductions for now, but don’t kid yourself: These programs remain squarely in the fiscal bulls-eye. As part of last August’s deal to extend the federal debt limit, Congress agreed that if the super committee was unable to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over [...]
Republican critics of the CLASS Act--the national long-term care insurance program that was included in the 2010 health law-- have concocted a phony scandal about how the law passed. As I have written often, CLASS is deeply flawed (though well-intended). But there is a big difference between a poorly executed idea and a scandal. In a report that is as partisan as it is [...]
More than 8,000 general practitioners in the United Kingdom will soon begin displaying in their offices seven "end-of-life" promises to their patients. It is a great idea. According to an article in The Independent, every GP (much like primary care physicians in the U.S.) will post this end-of-life pledge on the wall of their waiting room. The Charter for End of [...]
Kaiser Health News published my column today on what Medicaid cuts would mean for seniors and others with disabilities. While most of the public and many policymakers never think about the importance of the Medicaid safety net for these people, the program is the nation's largest single payer of of long-term care supports and services. If future Medicaid benefits are reduced and most middle-class [...]
In an important speech for those interested in the future of the CLASS Act, federal Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the program must be self-supporting but conceded that, as designed, it may not meet that goal. "The program must be able to pay for benefits over the long-term with the premiums it takes [...]
There is lots of quiet speculation in Washington about the fate of the CLASS Act in the wake of the huge Republican 2010 election day victory. Will CLASS be repealed? Will it be changed in any major way? My best guess is that CLASS--the national voluntary long-term care insurance program passed as part of the 2010 health reform law--will neither be repealed nor fundamentally [...]
Kudos to President Obama for making a "recess appointment" of Don Berwick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Berwick may be the ideal choice for the job. He is the right candidate at exactly the right time. The new health law makes possible broad reforms in the way we deliver health and long-term care. But it by no [...]