Session Spotlight: From Wall Street to the Hill: The Financial & Political Outlook this Year and Beyond

According to the CBO, Medicare spending over the upcoming years is expected to decline. With healthcare reform going into effect and Medicare programs changing over the upcoming year, there are new opportunities for Medicare plans. Decreasing inefficiencies and reducing waste is great, but we still have a ways to go to make Medicare more sustainable in the long-term. So where do we stand in terms of financial solvency?

Session: From Wall Street to the Hill: The Financial & Political Outlook this Year and Beyond

Moderator: Murray N. Ross, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Health Policy; Vice President, Kaiser Permanente

Panelists:
Court Houseworth, Managing Director, Cain Brothers
Chris Rigg, Senior Analyst, Managed Care, Susquehanna Research Group

Want to learn more about improving your financial stability while decreasing inefficiencies and waste through innovative new Medicare programming? Join us February 10-12 in New Orleans for IIR's Medicare Congress.  To learn more, download our agenda. Register by 1/17 with code XP1907BLOG and save up to $200.

MDRP Podcast: Bill Baxter, Retired after 38 years, Johnson & Johnson

MDRP has teamed up with several of the speakers at this year's Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to share some of their insights on the current healthcare reform and how it will effect the industry leading up to the conference.

Bill Baxter, Retired after 38 years, Johnson & Johnson, and MDRP Conference Track Chair shared his insights on these questions with us:

• Bill has been attending MDRP since it's inception in 1990, and he shares the biggest changes he has seen in your career with the MDRP.
• The number one mistake people make in staying compliant with the MDRP.
• He tells us about the impact of HCR on manufacturers.
• He tells us why this conference is important to him.

To download the podcast, visit the MDRP Podcast webpage.
For a transcript of the podcast, click here.

Could Healthcare Reform debate turn to a reconciliation?

In a recent article at The Christian Science Monitor, they look at President Obama's call for government to give the American people a definite answer on the long-lasting debate on universal healthcare. He's looking to the Democrats to provide the American people with an answer, possibly without the vote of one single Republican. The article states that Congress could have to resort to a rarely used procedure called reconciliation. According to the article, reconciliation is "a process that allows the Senate to ban filibusters, limit debate to 20 hours, and pass legislation by a simple majority vote." Read the full article here.

Government healthcare versus current state's laws

In an interesting article at the LA Times, they look at how the proposed bill for healthcare reform could actually harm some of the consumer rights states have put in place to protect them when it comes to insurance. For instance, in California, they require that insurance companies cover second surgical opinions, and breast reconstruction surgeries for breast cancer patients. This could affect consumers when insurance companies are allowed to sell insurance policies across borders.

According to the article, said Kris Haltmeyer, Blue Cross Blue Shield policy director, believes that establishing a minimum level of benefits at the federal level could mitigate some states receiving health insurance plans that aren't completely up to par.

What do you think about this? Will insurance companies being allowed to sell policies across state borders affect the quality in some places? What does this mean for the consumer?