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Buried within the hundreds of thousands of pages of CBO letters, CMS reports, GAO studies, the actual language of pending bills, OLC memos, and recently declassified documents are just a few critical pieces of information that, when put in context, tell an important story the American people need to know. Stories of corruption, lies, the truth about American foreign policy, and billions of dollars wasted due to political favoritism.
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Firedoglake is the best site to learn the real NEWS behind th3e Main Stream Media’s half truths. Here you will find the very best in posts and excellent comments from by far the smartest group of Progressives any where on the InterToobs! So do join you will be helping to keep Marcy, Jane,DDay and many others continue to bring us all information you will not be getting anywhere else!
thank you Nahant
woo hoo! just kicked in for my “friends” membership.
“I’m with the band”
thank you
FDL is where I
comelurk for the real truth and up to date news. I don’t venture out to very many other sites because I really don’t need to. It’s all here. So a huge THANKS to all of you who write and comment. Even though I still haven’t received my DFH Professional Left membership card, I am proud to be a member.Thanks so much for supporting FDL.
Jon – money is tight -but perhaps a little info on health care might help:
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in February submitted an amendment to Romneycare bill to the Legislature, and the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing has held its first hearing in May on that amendment. The Bill’s amendment would enhance the state’s powers to reject premium increases, allow the state to limit what hospitals and other providers can be paid by insurers, and promote alternatives to costly fee-for-service medicine, with the goal to make efficient integrated care organizations the predominant health care provider by 2015 The bill tries to move the state toward global payments, in which teams of providers — dubbed Accountable Care Organizations — collaborate on treatment and get rewarded for healthier patient outcomes.
Patrick has also made adopting health information technology a top priority as part of the next phase of health care reform, to improve patient care and reduce costs. Massachusetts has received approximately $28 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to support health IT initiatives across the state. Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to reach its goal of enrolling health care providers to adopt the use of electronic health records. Through the Massachusetts Regional Extension Center, more than 2,500 health care providers have enrolled with the Massachusetts eHealth Institute ( MeHI ) as part of the state’s efforts to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records in the Commonwealth.
Push back questions asked if global payments mean denying quality care to some patients, stifling competition among providers or hurting the state’s smaller hospitals, with Attorney General Martha Coakley saying that moving to global payments will not by itself fix all problems in the health care marketplace. In a May 13 letter to Inspector General Greg Sullivan Gov. Patrick stated “Please rest assured that we will use whatever tools are at our disposal to contain premium increases while the bill we have proposed is working its way through the Legislature,” Massachusetts health care costs are 15 percent higher than the rest of the nation so there is room for cost reduction, but because the goal is to improve coordination among caregivers and could result in reduced hospital admissions and re-admissions, some fear it could result in fewer hospital stays and therefore less revenue for some components of the health care system. The theory is that health care givers would require fewer “defensive” medical testing. An institution showing higher readmission rates or decreasing quality of care would have their compensation decreased. The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, an insurers group, said Accountable Care Organizations had the potential to reduce costs but also posed risks of consolidating market power, stifling competition and triggering antitrust lawsuits. Many actuaries have noted that Massachusetts costs are the highest in the nation, while their reimbursement ranks as one of the lowest, and that health economist models of savings from exchanges and lower reimbursement rates do not appear to be happening, despite claims costs would be even higher without the exchanges.