Free Republic

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that an Obama-era rule change on how Medicare reimbursements to hospitals are made should be removed because officials did not follow the proper notice and comment regulations in implementing the formula. The court ruled 7-1 to vacate the rule, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing the majority opinion. Justice Stephen Breyer was the sole dissenting member of the court, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the newest member of the court, was not involved in the case. The highly technical ruling and dispute involves billions of dollars in Medicare payments to hospitals. The court ruled for hospitals...

In a 2011 memo published by Wikileaks, Clinton underling Doug Band described how he secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in free travel and gifts for Bill Clinton and his family. While Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton did not disclose any gifts or free travel, as required. The gifts were first reported by Alana Goodman in the Daily Mail: ‘In support of the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like,’ wrote Band in the Nov. 16, 2011 memo...

Questions Surface On Gingrich Campaign Travel Payments By Luke Rosiak February 17, 2012 When Newt Gingrich’s campaign disclosed in October it planned to pay the candidate $70,000 for travel expenses in the third quarter, the transfer was an anomaly among presidential campaigns. But weeks ago, the former House speaker revised his third-quarter bill: He actually expected to personally receive $115,000 of the funds donated to his campaign to reimburse himself for expenses during that period. The campaign would not explain how the candidate forgot about $45,000 in receipts, what they were for or why the campaign wasn’t simply paying the...

The chief executives of CalPERS and CalSTRS along with Controller John Chiang and Treasurer Bill Lockyer are asking the Brown administration to overhaul the state's travel meal reimbursement rates to help accommodate for trips to expensive locales. Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/08/california-officials-seek-higher-rates-meal-reimbursements.html#ixzz1U6X38OST

WHEELING - The issue of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement could become a weighty issue with employees at Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital. The employees were informed by letter this week of a proposal currently before the Health Care Reform Bill Commission. That proposal would cut Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals where more than 5 percent of hospital employees are found to be 25 percent heavier than generally accepted height and weight guidelines.

Congressional plans for financing the proposed health care legislation include provisions to tax health insurance of non-union citizens and medical devices vital to the delivery of medicines. We never hear that health care is already heavily taxed, but that these taxes are hidden from the consumer and have the greatest impact on the sick. What we do hear is that costs are skyrocketing and insurance companies are gouging the public, in spite of actual data that indicate the profit for health insurance companies has lingered under 3.5% year after year. It should be obvious that those profits are not the...

One look at my office tells you that I'm still taking Medicare patients: The worn carpet and peeling paint give it away. Yes, Medicare's payment rates are that bad. The real threat of a further across-the-board cut of 21 percent only added to the old problems of "routine" Medicare cuts. The program now pays $53 for a standard office visit; with the cut, that would've been $40. For comparison, Aetna pays $70. Average Medicare payments to physicians have been relatively stagnant since 2001 (but reimbursements for surgery and procedures have been cut a lot). Meanwhile, average total physicians' costs have...

A senior Obama Administration official almost let the cat out of the bag about the real impact of Obama-style health care "reform." Here's the background. The three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location. In health care, one could argue that it's reimbursements, reimbursements, and reimbursements. One in every six workers receives a paycheck that depends on physician and hospital reimbursement for services. Except for Medicaid, Medicare reimbursement rates are the lowest of all entities that reimburse physicians and hospitals. All private insurance and Medicare Advantage reimbursements are higher than traditional Medicare ones. Medicare and Medicare...

<p>The Clintons do have some shame. They didn't ask to be recompensed for their legal fees in connection with one of the scandals that bedeviled his eight-year administration, which was roughly co-extensive with investigations thereof. That one was L'Affaire Lewinsky. The former president agreed to handle his own costs in that case as part of the settlement/confession he reached with federal prosecutor Robert Ray.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California Gov. Gray Davis criticized the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress today for failing to reimburse states for their homeland security costs.</p> <p>Target-rich California alone is spending more than $500 million a year on increased security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Davis said. During the recent national upgrade to alert level ``orange,'' the California Highway Patrol spent more than $1 million on extra patrols and precautions over a two-week period, he said.</p>