Sweeping changes phase in slowly for most, but insurers, hospitals, drug companies, employers, workers, medical device makers
and more will eventually feel impact.
Drugmakers and insurers could gain millions of customers under the legislation, but the industry also will pay new fees and
face stricter rules that may shrink profit and fuel mergers.
To pay for the changes, the legislation includes more than $400 billion in higher taxes over a decade, roughly half of it
from a new Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000.
Insurers WellPoint Inc. and others would get a delay in taxes on premiums and high-cost medical benefits, along with additional
funding for expanding Medicaid, under a White House proposal
Obama, seeking to break an impasse over health-care legislation, proposes a plan that includes the first Medicare tax on unearned
income such as capital gains and higher fees on drugmakers.
Stephanie DeKemper believes everything in her adult life has prepared her to run SynCare LLC. She’s so
sure that she’s buying the company.
State lawmakers say a proposed bill would help people get quicker access to in-home care that most seniors
prefer to nursing homes.
The service will launch in February. Its goal is to serve 15 clients by June 30, 2010.
An actuarial report prepared by the local office of Milliman Inc., a Seattle-based consulting firm, projects
that the state of Indiana would have to hike its Medicaid payments by one-third in order to entice more
doctors into the program.
House and Senate versions of health care reform could halt the trend toward physician-owned hospitals.
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday that $34 million in new budget cuts includes a 5-percent
cut in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals.
Biotechnology behemoth Amgen Inc. is being sued by 15 states, including Indiana, alleging the company gave kickbacks to medical
providers to help boost sales of the Aranesp.
The Indiana Division of Aging wants to change Medicaid rates to nursing homes to reward quality care and penalize the lack
of it, leaving the industry divided over whether to support the groundbreaking rule or to seek revisions and a slower phase-in.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels outlined his concerns about some of the health care proposals being debated in Congress in a letter
sent to the state’s congressional delegation and released by his office yesterday.
Doug Stratton, executive director of the Indiana Comprehensive Health Insurance Association, slashes costs, pushes disease
control to keep prices as low as possible.
Indiana Medicaid officials want to take over management of all its patients’ prescription drugs because they say it could save the state as much as $40 million a year.
