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Sens. Baucus, Grassley Release Draft Bill To Link Medicare Payments For Inpatient Hospital Care To Quality
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday released a draft bill that would link Medicare reimbursement levels for inpatient hospital care to the quality of care, rather than the number of services provided, CQ HealthBeat reports.

New Medicaid Regulation Will Curb Abuse, Save Money, HHS Secretary Leavitt Writes In Letter To The Editor
"I strongly disagree with your interpretation" of a Medicaid regulation announced last week that "clarifies" services covered under the program's outpatient hospital benefit, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a New York Times letter to the editor dated Nov. 14, responding to a Nov.

Analysis Examines Cost Of Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage; Report Looks At Medicare Part D Plan Changes; More
"Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance -- A Comparison of the Availability and Cost of Coverage for Workers in Small Firms and Large Firms," Kaiser Family Foundation: The analysis, part of the Foundation's online

AARP Public Policy Institute Releases Issues Report On Racial, Ethnic Disparities In Medicare Beneficiaries' Immunizations
"Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Influenza and Pneumococcal Immunization Rates Among Medicare Beneficiaries" (.pdf), AARP Public Policy Institute: The issues report discusses factors that might contribute to black and Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries' access to immunizations.

Open Season For Medicare Part D Enrollment
From November 15th to the end of December is "open season" for American senior citizens to sign up for another year to benefit from the federal government program known as Medicare Part D designed to help eligible older Americans pay for prescription drugs.

Walgreens Offers Assistance In Sorting Through Changes To Medicare Part D Plans
The six-week open enrollment period for Medicare Part D is under way and seniors are facing the annual task of evaluating prescription plans to nail down their choices for the coming year. Medicare enrollees have until Dec. 31 to review their current plan for any changes in cost or coverage and make certain it still meets their needs.

AARP: Value Of Family Caregiving Hits $375 Billion, More That Medicaid Spending, USA
The economic value of family caregiving in the U.S. reached $375 billion in 2007, according to a new report by AARP's Public Policy Institute. The report, which updates a groundbreaking study by AARP last year, finds that the value of family caregiving was $375 billion, 7 percent higher than the estimated value of $350 billion in 2006. The estimated value exceeds the $311 billion spent nationally in 2007 for Medicaid.

Study Examines Effect Of Medicaid Payment Delays On Physician Participation
"Do Reimbursement Delays Discourage Medicaid Participation By Physicians?" Health Affairs: The study, released by the

Study Looks At How Medicare Beneficiaries' Familiarity With The Program Affects Their Access To Care
"Does Poorer Familiarity With Medicare Translate Into Worse Access to Health Care?" Journal of the American Geriatrics Society: Robert Morgan, a professor of management, policy and community health at the University of Texas School of Public Health, and colleagues surveyed 2,997 white, black and Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries.

Medicare Must Be Addressed Before U.S. Can Overhaul Health Care System, Opinion Piece States
"Fiscally speaking, the U.S. government has been living on borrowed time for decades" because it "has promised massively expensive benefits -- mainly Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- heedless of the enormous tax burdens these promises implicitly place on our children and grandchildren," according to a

New Medicare Advantage Marketing Rules Will Help People Make More Informed Healthcare Choices, Allsup Says
Medicare beneficiaries trying to sort through their healthcare options for 2009 should welcome new rules designed to protect them against overly aggressive marketing tactics by some insurance companies and their agents, according to Allsup, a leading provider of Social Security disability, financial and healthcare-related services to people with disabilities.

Senate Democrats Introduce Economic Stimulus Package With Additional Federal Medicaid Funds For States
Senate Democrats on Monday introduced a $100.3 billion economic stimulus package (S 3689) that includes $37.8 billion in additional federal Medicaid funds for states and $1 billion in additional funds for NIH, CQ Today reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that he hopes to hold a vote on the stimulus package on Wednesday.

Louisiana Gov. Jindal Unveils 'Louisiana Health First' Medicaid Overhaul Plan
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and state Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine on Friday announced details of the

CMS Will Not Cover Weight-Loss Surgeries For Non-Obese Diabetes Patients
CMS on Monday said that it will not cover weight-loss surgery for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes who are not dangerously overweight because there is not ample evidence proving the procedure can improve their health, Reuters/Yahoo! News reports.

Survey Shows Most Medicare Beneficiaries Do Not Understand Prescription Drug Benefit 'Doughnut Hole' Coverage Gap
Sixty-two percent of Medicare beneficiaries do not fully understand the so-called "doughnut hole" in the prescription drug benefit, and 28% do not understand the coverage gap at all or are not aware of the gap, according to a survey released on Monday by Medco Health Solutions, the