Krugman, Noonan Agree: Just Build on Medicare

This could be the last chance to rein in Medicare costs

(NEWSER) - Centrist senators worried about the fiscal burden of the health care bill should be asking themselves what will happen if it doesn't pass, writes Paul Krugman. The legislation almost certainly represents the last chance to rein in Medicare costs, the main cause of projected future deficits, before they cause a budget catastrophe, Krugman writes in the New York Times. More»

(NEWSER) - The mob-like scenes at recent town halls are "something new and ugly," writes Paul Krugman, who notes that 2005's protests against Social Security privatization never saw baying crowds and congressmen hanged in effigy. The New York Times columnist is unconvinced that the mobs are in the pay of well-organized conservative groups. Rather, they're genuinely angry—and are nursing "the same cultural and racial anxiety that's behind the birther movement." More»

Kennedy-helmed HELP committee delivers feasible, cheap plan

(NEWSER) - The Congressional Budget Office has spoken: We can afford universal health care. Sure, we should have known that all along, writes Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Every other advanced country has it and spends less than we do. But last week the notoriously tight-pursed CBO scored a proposal from Ted Kennedy’s HELP committee that would insure just about everyone, and offer a public option. Total cost over the next decade? $597 billion. More»

'New York Post' thinks Medicare Advantage's stay of execution is a dirty trick

(NEWSER) - What would you say if President Obama took $8.3 billion in taxpayer money and used it for his reelection campaign? Because that's exactly what he's done by giving Medicare Advantage a stay of execution, according to Benjamin Sasse and Charles Hurt of the New York Post . The law, they explain, "guts" the market-oriented Medicare alternative, reducing its reimbursement rates to drive people into Medicare proper. Seniors will have to pick a plan in October—just weeks before the election. More»

Special emergency rooms move slower, account for complexities

(NEWSER) - America is getting older, and the elderly account for 15% to 20% of emergency room visits, so hospitals have come up with a new way to cater to them: the geriatric ER. Dozens of these facilities are opening across the country, the New York Times reports, looking more like soothing clinics than bustling command centers—the one at Mount Sinai even has a fake sun behind a faux skylight. They've proved wildly popular with patients, which is crucial for hospitals, because under ObamaCare patient satisfaction affects Medicare reimbursement. More»