SET | How the Fed gov increases health care costs due to policy changes

The Obama Administration and the President, himself, underscore the need to accomplish health care reform due to the escalating costs of care, but many government policies contribute significantly to those costs. This story illustrates the point.

Cutting costs and improving access for millions of Americans now without health insurance are major aims of President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system but the legislation is stalled in Congress.

"It's incredibly complicated," said Dr. Micah Hemani, a bladder cancer expert at the New York University Langone Medical Center, who studied changes in treatment patterns in his group practice before and after the pay hike.
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clipped from www.reuters.com Study shows how Medicare rewards MDs for overuse CHICAGO (Reuters) - Medicare's move in 2005 to pay doctors to do bladder cancer surgery in their offices rather than in hospitals dramatically raised the number of procedures and overall health costs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

MYG | Sarah's script is visibly in hand

Sarah Palin was in Nashville, Tennessee last night to address the first-ever national gathering of the tea party. Her speech was heavy on folksy, ...
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Here is a brief digest of the event ...
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clipped from www.politico.com The Palin message, distilled A Huffington Post blogger enlarges the image of Sarah Palin's hand, at which she glanced during yesterday's speech to the Tea Party Convention. It appears to be an outline: Energy Budget Tax Cuts Lift American Spirits Fiscal hawks will note that the difference between budget cuts and tax cuts is pretty much the core of the criticism of Republican economics. Anyway, not sure why she needed to write it down, but it does boil things down.

MYG | Would health reform stop this practice?

Is this a harbinger to things to come if there is no health care reform? Perhaps this account will give all us pause to contemplate putting the breaks on the national health reform plan. Perhaps, what the debate should be about is what it always should be about: How and when should we have health "insurance" reform?
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California's largest for-profit health insurer is moving to dramatically raise rates for customers with individual policies, setting off a furor among policyholders and prompting state insurance regulators to investigate.
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clipped from www.latimes.com Anthem Blue Cross dramatically raising rates for Californians with individual health policies Policyholders are incensed over rate hikes of as much as 39%, which they say come on top of similar increases last year. State insurance regulators say they'll investigate. "I've never seen anything like this," says Mark Weiss, a Century City podiatrist whose Anthem Blue Cross policy for himself and his wife will rise 35%. The couple's annual insurance bill will jump to $27,336 from $20,184. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times / February 4, 2010) Anthem Blue Cross is telling many of its approximately 800,000 customers who buy individual coverage -- people not covered by group rates -- that its prices will go up March 1 and may be adjusted "more frequently" than its typical yearly increases.

MYG | Sen. Brown takes legendary Kennedy seat

Election results from last month's Massachusetts Senate race are expected to be certified today, allowing Scott Brown to be sworn in at any point. ...
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clipped from www.youtube.com Watch this video in a new window Reaction: Brown set to be sworn in - Election results from last month's Massachusetts Senate race are expected to be certified today, allowing Scott Brown to be sworn in at any point. What is your reaction to this news? - Brown will give Senate Republicans a 41st vote, breaking Senate Democrats' filibuster-proof majority. Will this extra vote help or hurt the legislative process? - Do you think Brown's presence in the Senate will have an impact on bipartisanship?

SET | Something new to ponder about the health care reform debate

It has long been common knowledge that the Canadian, British, and other western societies that have government-run health care have a rationing system for advanced critical services like open-heart surgery. Hence, stories like this one surface from time to time about high-profile citizens of these nations who choose to come to the U.S. for advanced medicine, where they probably usually pay out of pocket.

All of this gives much fodder to those on the side of stopping any attempts in the USA to implement a similar system here for government-run health care.

Quotable BLOGGER BEN SMITH | http://politico.twi.bz/g | "Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States. | CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week. | The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily

clipped from web.me.com Williams new health-debate poster boy Danny Williams either bought faster foreign access to routine heart surgery or needed urgent specialized treatment Newfoundland's health care system did not provide. The real diagnosis doesn't matter because his fate in at least one national medicare debate is sealed. | Read more: The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today. | http://nationalpost.twi.bz/d SOURCE | http://google.twi.bz/gx SEARCH | http://google.twi.bz/Zz SET | SENIOR TIME | My iWEB Blogs | http://me.twi.bz/q ALTACITIES | http://altacities.com | http://me.twi.bz/X Help us reach 1,234 subscribers by 5:06 pm (7 sec) on 8-9-10 Matching the numerical sequence 12345678910 Details here | http://me.twi.bz/5 224 | A2G | Today, Tomorrow, Forever | According to Google SOURCE URL:     http://google.twi.bz/gx

MYG | Medicare fraud: A starting point to reduce government costs

WASHINGTON | USA TODAY | " Two years after the federal government started its latest push to crack down on Medicare fraud, the number of people charged with ripping off health care insurers has barely changed, Justice Department records show.

That effort comes at a critical time, because the White House and lawmakers are hoping to use savings from anti-fraud measures in the government-run health plan to help pay for health care legislation. Fraud costs Medicare an estimated $60 billion a year, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

Federal prosecutors charged 803 people with defrauding medical insurers in the fiscal year that ended in September, Justice Department records show. That's up about 2% since the government began deploying "strike forces" to target fraud in 2007. Nearly all of the charges involved attempts to cheat Medicare.
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clipped from www.youtube.com Watch this video in a new window Jan Schlichtmann discusses widespread Medicare fraud (CBS) Of all the problems facing the United States right now, none are more important than health care. President Obama says rising costs are driving huge federal budget deficits that imperil our future, and that there is enough waste and fraud in the system to pay for health care reform if it was eliminated. At the center of both issues is Medicare, the government insurance program that provides health care to 46 million elderly and disabled Americans. But it also provides a rich and steady income stream for criminals who are constantly finding new ways to steal a sizable chunk of the half trillion dollars that are paid out each year in Medicare benefits. In fact, Medicare fraud - estimated now to total about $60 billion a year - has become one of, if not the most profitable, crimes in America. Learn more at http://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/

MYG | Amid scandal, Rep. Buyer (R-IN) won't seek another term

Autoimmune diseases are complex and numerous. The body's immune system protects from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body. These diseases tend to run in families. Women - particularly African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American women - have a higher risk for some autoimmune diseases.

There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and if so, which one. Getting diagnosed can be frustrating and stressful. In many people, the first symptoms are being tired, muscle aches and low fever.

The diseases may also have flare-ups, when they get worse, and remissions, when they all but disappear. The diseases do not usually go away, but symptoms can be treated.
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Click here for the most common autoi

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com GOP Rep. Buyer, with wife ill, won't seek new term INDIANAPOLIS -- Republican Rep. Steve Buyer announced Friday that he will not seek re-election this fall and will leave Congress after 18 years because his wife is ill. Buyer choked back tears as he stood next to his wife, Joni, on Friday, saying she had been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease. "As part of her prognosis she has been advised to de-stress her life," he said. "Now is the time for me to step back. It's been an honor." Buyer, 51, is the top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He was the committee's chairman for two years before Democrats won the House majority in the 2006 election. U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind. announces he will not seek re-election because his wife Joni is ill during a news conference in Indianapolis, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. (AP Photo/AJ Mast) (Aj Mast - AP)

LAO | Pension watch: CalSTRS fund short of need

QUOTABLE: "What's worse," CalSTRS Chief Executive Jack Ehnes said in a report to be presented to the board Feb. 5, "the fund could be broke in 35 years -- the length of a typical teaching career." | CalSTRS primary responsibility is to provide retirement benefits and services to teachers in public schools and community colleges.
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clipped from www.latimes.com Teachers pension fund is $43 billion short The California State Teachers' Retirement System says that as of June 30, 2009, it could meet only an estimated 77% of its future pension obligations -- far less than the 100% recommended by actuaries Reporting from Sacramento - Another pension alarm bell is ringing in Sacramento, this time at the teachers retirement system, where the nation's second-largest public pension fund is reporting a $43-billion shortfall. The California State Teachers' Retirement System said that as of June 30, 2009, it could meet only an estimated 77% of its future pension obligations -- far less than the 100% recommended by actuaries. Known as CalSTRS, the fund took a big hit during the 2008-09 fiscal year, losing a quarter of its value. Since then, its investment returns have improved, but the growth isn't strong enough to keep up with a widening funding gap.

SET | Is health care reform DOA?

California's inoperable and ineffective government may have met its match: The U.S. Congress! Increasingly, it appears that the health care reform plan that has occupied so much congressional attention and time this year is going to stall and not reach the president's desk. Many would agree that the "stalemate" is not a bad thing. What will the voters thing come November? But again, perhaps all of this publicity may still be posturing as the various political factions try to rally support, either among congressional colleagues or the public.
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clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Health Care 'Stalemate' WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's health care appeal failed to break the congressional gridlock Thursday, dimming hopes for millions of uninsured Americans. Democrats stared down a political nightmare – getting clobbered for voting last year for ambitious, politically risky bills, yet having nothing to show for it in November. The grim reality opened a divide between the rank and file and congressional leaders, who insisted health care would get done, even though last week's special election in Massachusetts denied Democrats the 60-vote majority they need to deliver in the Senate. Many Democrats saw a problem with no clear solution. "It's very possible that health care is just a stalemate and you can't solve it this year," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

MYG | Despite budget woes, CA Senate votes single-payer health care

Further indicating the disconnect between the California legislature and the state's governor, if not the voters, the California Senate has passed a sweeping government-run health care system, patterned after the Massachusetts model. A veto from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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clipped from www.boston.com Calif. Senate approves single-payer health care SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Senate approved creating a government-run health care system for the nation's most populous state on Thursday, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Discuss COMMENTS (1) Supporters said it is time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration's national health care proposal falters in Congress. "If it's not to be done at the national level, let us take the lead," said state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. The move in California comes after Massachusetts voters changed the calculus in Congress by electing a Republican to the Senate who opposes the pending plan.

MYG | Stimulus $: Who is in charge?

THIS CNN REPORT (found on my FB wall) details the unfortunate use of Federal stimulus funds to purchase highway advertising signs will probably not be answered by Obama tonight in his State of The Union speech, but perhaps it should. What is your opinion of these expenditures?
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clipped from www.cnn.com view all special coverage Complete coverage on The Stimulus Project FOLLOW THIS TOPIC Signs of waste? A state senator from Ohio says his state is spending $1 million on road signs to advertise the use of stimulus money for road projects. In other words, the state is using your money to tell you it's spending your money. All week, CNN examines the stimulus and looks at one of the greatest concerns for Americans: the economy. FULL STORY