10/04/2009 DAVE COLLINS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HARTFORD, CONN.
As the baby boomers edge closer to needing long-term care, government spending cuts are threatening to damage the country’s nursing home industry. Combined with the recession, these cuts are forcing homes to lay off workers, reduce services, and close their doors. Nearly 1,800 homes closed from 1999 to 2005. With President Obama proposing to trim $313 billion from Medicaid and Medicare, experts fear these closures are just the beginning of more to come.

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Labels: government spending, Medicaid, Medicare, nursing homes, recession

 

09/22/2009 DAVID S. HILZENRATH THE WASHINGTON POST
The government has ordered health insurers to stop sending Medicare beneficiaries “misleading and confusing” messages detailing how proposed health reform legislation could strip seniors of their benefits through drastic cuts in funding. Insurers have been encouraging enrollees to protest the legislation, and see the government’s “gag order” as attacking free speech. Members of Congress contend that the bill only strengthens the Medicare program.

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Labels: benefits, health insurance, health reform, Medicare, seniors

 

04/02/2009 ROBERT PEAR THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON
Social Security recipients will not get any increase in their benefits next year for the first time in more than three decades because federal forecasts do not anticipate the cost of living will rise enough to warrant a bump in benefits. If there is no cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security, about one-quarter of beneficiaries could face substantial increases in their premiums for doctors’ services and drug coverage under Medicare.

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Labels: cost-of-living adjustment, Medicare, Social Security

 

03/24/2009 REED ABELSON NEW YORK TIMES
President Barack Obama is proposing a new health care program that is federal and the insurance is similar to Medicare, and available to anyone at any age. Obama believes that the program will give the people more choices and keeps the integrity of the private sector in check because of the competition. Opponents believe that the government is intervening and is pushing private insurers out by demanding lower prices from doctors and hospitals than private sectors, eventually leaving the government as the only option. The main debate over the health care proposal is how to provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans while taking into account the high cost of health care.

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Labels: health care plan, insurance, Medicare, Obama

 

02/24/2009 LORI MONTGOMERY & AMY GOLDSTEIN WASHINGTON POST
President Obama’s top priority is to reform the U.S. health care system, since he believes controlling the costs of the two governmental health systems -- Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor -- is critical to saving the nation from bankruptcy. At the economic summit where Obama made these statements, top administration officials said they were committed to stabilizing the Social Security system and ensuring taxes bring in enough money to fund the government.

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Labels: economic summit, health care system, Medicaid, Medicare, Obama