Medicaid is one of our nation's most important health care programs. It was created in 1965 as a cooperative effort between states and the federal government to provide health insurance to needy Americans, including children, pregnant women, disabled individuals and the elderly poor.
More than 40 million Americans currently depend on Medicaid coverage, including more than 20 million children, more than 4 million seniors, and more than 7 million blind or disabled individuals. Medicaid also pays for about half of the nursing home care provided in this country and helps many poor elderly with Medicaid premiums and other costs.
A new GAO report released today finds that almost three years after the Part D drug program went into effect, CMS still faces significant and continuing problems resolving complaints and grievances filed by seniors and the disabled. The report was requested by Reps. Henry A. Waxman, John Dingell, Charles Rangel, Pete Stark, and Frank Pallone, and Sen. Sherrod Brown.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled, “The Medicare Drug Benefit: Are Private Insurers Getting Good Discounts for the Taxpayer?” on Thursday, July 24, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.
Today Chairman Henry A. Waxman released a new report: The Administration’s Medicaid Regulations: State-by-State Impacts. The report details the state-by-state impacts of seven regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) that would make major, wide-ranging changes in Medicaid, the nation’s largest low-income health care program.
The committee held a hearing to examine a range of regulatory changes regarding the Medicaid program that have recently been made by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If all of these regulations were implemented, federal Medicaid funds to states would be cut by over $11 billion over five years.
A new report on the Medicare Part D program reveals that the high administrative costs of the private Part D insurers, combined with their inability to negotiate significant drug savings, will cost taxpayers and seniors $15 billion in 2007.
Today Chairman Waxman released two new analyses -- one by GAO and one by the majority staff -- that examine the impact of the Medicaid citizenship documentation requirements that went into effect in 2006. The analyses show that the requirements have caused eligible U.S. citizens to lose Medicaid coverage and have not achieved the goal of saving taxpayers money.
A Domestic Policy Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday revealed that in 2001, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a contract to update a twenty-year-old guide to Medicaid and pediatric dentistry. Between the draft in late 2001 and the guide's publication in 2004, the document was significantly changed, with major portions deleted.
This hearing will examine the adequacy of CMS oversight mechanisms used to evaluate the ability of Medicaid programs to ensure children’s access to dental health. Although infallible oversight will not redress the inadequacy of Medicaid administered dental care, achieving such redress is elusive without adequate oversight.
Chairman Waxman leads a large bipartisan group in requesting that the Department of Health and Human Services withdraw a proposed rule that would fundamentally alter the financing and payment arrangements of many state Medicaid programs. HHS estimates show that safety net providers would lose at least $3.8 billion in federal Medicaid payments over the next five years, undercutting emergency and trauma care capacity in many of our nation's strategic cities.
Democratic members of Congress have proposed reforms of the Medicare drug benefit that could save the average senior almost $500 per year and eliminate the donut hole, without any increased costs to the taxpayer.
The Department of Health and Human Services erred when it claimed that seniors would not face premium increases for their Medicare Part D coverage in 2007. A new analysis released by Rep. Waxman shows that for the average senior, premiums will increase by over 10%, with some seniors enrolled in the lowest-priced plans facing even larger increases.
Update: Includes Rep. Waxman's Reponse to Administrator McClellan's Statement
Today the Democratic Truth Squad released a new analysis that reveals pharmaceutical industry profits increased by over $8 billion in the first six months after the Medicare drug plan went into effect.
A new study released by Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Stephen F. Lynch shows that the federal paperwork burden has grown to record levels under the Bush Administration, with the new Medicare prescription drug program adding over 200 million hours of government red tape.
A new GAO report finds that call centers run by private Medicare drug plans provide inaccurate and incomplete information to consumers. GAO found that in most instances, prescription plan providers were unable to accurately respond to simple questions about plan costs, low-income coverage, plan formulary procedures, and plan utilization management techniques.
Ranking Members Dingell, Brown, Rangel, Stark, and Waxman ask GAO to look into whether Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans use management techniques to prevent patients from getting their medicines.
Rep. Waxman, along with Reps. Dingell, Rangel, Stark, and Sherrod Brown, releases a GAO report that finds that the information provided by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services about the complicated new drug benefit is rife with problems. According to GAO, the federal handbooks, website, and 1-800 Medicare hotline failed to provide information that was “consistently clear, complete, accurate, and usable.”
Rep. Waxman releases a new report finding that 97% of plans restrict access to important drugs on their formularies through the use of prior authorization, step-therapy, and quantity limits. A telephone survey of the plans finds that they fail to adequately inform seniors of these restrictions, often providing information that is conflicting or erroneous.
Rep. Waxman releases a fact sheet outlining the differences between minority staff's analyses of the new Medicare drug plan prices and the analyses offered by CMS.
At the request of Reps. Honda, Lantos, Lee, Lofgren, Miller, Pelosi, Stark, Tauscher, Thompson, and Woolsey, this report examines whether the Republican promises of low drug prices have been achieved in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rep. Waxman releases three new reports that show (1) Medicare drug plans have raised prices for popular brand-name drugs by more than 4% since January 1; (2) Medicare drug plans now charge 14% more for these drugs than the discredited Medicare drug cards previously charged; and (3) Medicare drug card providers negotiated negligible discounts of at most 3% to 5% from drug manufacturers. One of the three reports was prepared by GAO; it also finds that the Administration had advance warning that its systems would not be able to reconcile enrollment and eligibility data satisfactorily.
Rep. Waxman and Rep. Stark release a new GAO study of enrollees in Health Savings Accounts, a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. The report validates a number of concerns about the President's proposals.
Leader Pelosi and Reps. Waxman, Dingell, Stark, Sherrod Brown, and Marion Berry unveiled their legislation to provide emergency relief to senior citizens and people with disabilities who are having trouble navigating the new Medicare prescription drug program.
Rep. Waxman delivers the Saturday Democratic Radio Address, discussing the crisis surrounding the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit that went into effect January 1 and how the crisis could have been prevented through honest, open government.
In a letter, Rep. Waxman asks GAO to investigate new evidence that the Republican-designed program will likely result in a multi-billion dollar windfall for drug manufacturers, at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
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