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        <title>Health Care Experts</title>
        <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/</link>
        <description></description>
        <language>en</language>
        <copyright>Copyright 2013</copyright>
        <lastBuildDate>Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:54:45 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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            <title>Will We Have a Serious Discussion About Premium Support?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>Mitt Romney's selection of <strong>Rep. Paul Ryan</strong>, R-Wis., as his running mate has brought his Medicare reform proposal<a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/ryan-pick-brings-medicare-to-center-stage-20120811?page=1"> to the front</a> of the presidential campaign. <a href="http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/8281-C.pdf">Polling in February</a> suggested that while Americans <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/magazine/making-medicare-the-issue-20120126?mrefid=site_search">strongly prefer the Medicare status quo</a>, they also know little about the details of what premium support means or how it would work. Does the Ryan selection mean either of those things will change by election day?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/08/will-we-have-a-serious-discuss.php</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:54:45 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>AIDS: Where Are We Now?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>The <a href="http://www.aids2012.org/">International Aids Conference</a> is back in the United States for the first time in more than 20 years, with a star-studded cast that includes top U.S. health officials, former presidents, philanthropists, and public health officials from around the world. Recent years have seen major strides in the prevention and treatment of AIDS around the world, but challenges remain, including declining financial support, according to <a href="http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/7347-08.pdf">a recent UNAIDS repor</a>t. </p>

<p>What do you see as the key successes of the global fight against AIDS? What future challenges most concern you?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/07/aids-where-are-we-now.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/07/aids-where-are-we-now.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:21:59 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>The Court Has Spoken. What Now?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>So the Court <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-393c3a2.pdf">has spoken</a>. We can now end all the speculating and vague worrying about what the Supreme Court might or might not do to the health reform law. A majority of the Court said that the controversial individual mandate can stand but that the law's expansion of Medicaid must now be optional for the states. So now that the legal fight is through, what do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for health reform forward? Will there be <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/mcconnell-republicans-could-repeal-health-care-law-with-51-votes-20120701">successful efforts to repeal</a> or reform the Affordable Care Act? Will the Health and Human Services department release all the necessary regulations in time? What will happen if <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/ruling-could-leave-millions-uninsured-20120628">states opt out</a> of the Medicaid expansion? Will the president turn the corner on <a href="http://nationaljournal.com/magazine/moving-right-along-20120629">selling the law</a> to the public?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/07/the-court-has-spoken-what-now.php</link>
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            <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:56:19 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>What Changes Will Survive the Supreme Court?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>The countdown to the Supreme Court's decision in the health care case is on. Chief Justice John Roberts said Monday that the justices would be issuing rulings in the remaining cases on Thursday, which means, barring some extraordinary circumstance, that we will know then whether the Affordable Care Act will stand, fall, or move forward in some partial form.</p>

<p>The health care law would usher in a large reorganization of how many Americans get health insurance and of how Medicare pays providers for the care they offer seniors. In many important ways, the future of health care in this country will depend on what the Court decides. But in the two years since the law passed, insurers, providers and state governments have already begun making big changes. Which of those changes do you think will live on, regardless of the future of the health care law?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/06/what-changes-will-survive-the.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/06/what-changes-will-survive-the.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:06:57 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Are insurance reforms here to stay?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>On Monday, the health insurer UnitedHealthCare announced that it will be preserving several consumer protections now required by the Affordable Care Act, regardless of what the Supreme Court opts to do about the health reform law. Even if the law is overturned, United will keep covering young adults on their parents' plans, offer preventive benefits with no copayment, and write all policies without lifetime limits, among other provisions. The company did not embrace every consumer protection imposed in the law, but did include many popular reforms that have already been enacted.</p>

<p>Do you think other insurers will follow United's lead? Do you think that these changes are here to stay, regardless of what the Courts or Congress do?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/06/are-insurance-reforms-here-to.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/06/are-insurance-reforms-here-to.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 2012 19:14:10 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>If &quot;Obamacare&quot; falls, what&apos;s next for Congress?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>A rumor that the Supreme Court might rule on the health care case last week turned out to be just that. But, with the Court's decision drawing near, members of Congress have begun thinking about how they will react should the Court overturn the sprawling health care law. In the House, which has repeatedly voted to repeal the law, leadership says it remains committed to complete eradication, but some members have begun talking about the possibility of restoring some popular provisions. </p>

<p>If the Court overturns the law, what, if anything, should the Congress do next? What do you think they will do?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/if-obamacare-falls-whats-next.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/if-obamacare-falls-whats-next.php</guid>
            
            
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag">affordable care act</category>
            
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag">supreme court</category>
            
            <pubDate>Tue, 29 May 2012 15:01:10 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>What Can Congress Learn from the FDA User Fee Bills?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>Unlike so much else in the 112th Congress, the package of legislation to authorize Food and Drug Administration user fee agreements is humming along. At a House markup last week, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was one of many members who commended his colleagues for their ability to collaborate and compromise: "Consideration of this bill should be a model for legislative action," he said. The "UFA" legislation, as it's known, is nearly identical on the House and Senate sides, <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/daily/as-ufa-speeds-ahead-drug-tracking-rules-lag-behind-20120509?mrefid=site_search">has passed through markups with nary a complaint</a>, and looks set to pass months before the programs it reauthorizes are set to expire at the end of September.</p>

<p>In a session marked by so much partisan rancor, why are the UFA bills different? What can Congress learn from this process?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/what-can-congress-learn-from-t-1.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/what-can-congress-learn-from-t-1.php</guid>
            
            
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag">FDA</category>
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 16:34:21 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Should Americans Get Insurance From Their Employers?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>What role should employer-sponsored health insurance plans play in U.S. health care?</p>

<p>House Republicans have bashed the health reform law as the beginning of the end of the employer-sponsored health insurance market, since it would be less expensive for some employers to drop their plans and pay a fine to the federal government. The House Ways and Means committee <a href="http://waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Fortune_100_Report_5_1_12.pdf">released a report</a> last week finding 71 of Fortune 100 companies could save $422 billion by simply paying fines for their employees, instead of the insurance plans they offer now.</p>

<p>But Republicans haven't been huge fans of employers dictating health insurance coverage for individuals in the past. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed getting rid of the employer-sponsored health insurance tax exclusion in his failed 2008 presidential campaign, which could incentivize people to buy their own plans. Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2012, hasn't gone that far yet. But he does want to "equalize" the tax treatment of health insurance, giving individual buyers the same tax breaks that employees get on their employer health insurance.</p>

<p>Should people get their health insurance through their employers? What considerations should lawmakers take into account when writing policies that shape insurance coverage?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/should-americans-get-insurance.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/should-americans-get-insurance.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 18:20:19 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Are ACOs Already Over?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>Last week the federal government announced it had signed up 27 hospital and doctor groups to participate as accountable care organizations, one of the health reform law's great cost-saving hopes.</p>

<p>The number <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/healthcare/enrollment-low-in-medicare-bonus-program-20120410">is well under federal</a> projections from October, which predicted up to 270 groups would sign up to become Medicare accountable care organizations, or ACOs. The ACO program pays bonuses to doctor and hospital groups if they successfully coordinate care and improve health outcomes for certain Medicare patients. The groups can eventually lose money from the federal government if they don't meet those standards.</p>

<p>Does the low turnout mean ACOs are over? Or is the program just off to a slow start? Why?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/are-acos-already-over.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/are-acos-already-over.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:52:16 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Missing Ways To Salvage Health Reform?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>After tougher-than-expected questioning for the Obama administration at last week's historic Supreme Court arguments on the health reform law, figuring out how to make the law work if the court strikes down the insurance coverage requirement has become a fulltime hobby. </p>

<p>Several options have been floated-- like auto-enrolling people in health insurance plans or restricting enrollment to certain times of the year--but so far no formal strategy has emerged.</p>

<p>Are there any ways to salvage the health care law that have been missed? What programs do you see surviving if the Supreme Court decides the insurance requirement is unconstitutional?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/miss-ways-to-salvage-health-re.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/miss-ways-to-salvage-health-re.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:01:09 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Two Years of Health Reform: What Would You Change?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>Friday marks the second anniversary of the health reform law. Just three days later, what Republicans like to deride as "Obamacare" will face the biggest challenge it has ever seen: oral arguments at the Supreme Court on whether the law is constitutional. Democrats are spending the week telling voters just how they've benefited from the law, and what they'd lose if it is overturned. Republicans are keeping on their message that the law is an unprecedented government intrusion into Americans' health care. In the meantime, states are scrambling to get insurance exchanges up and running while every facet of the health industry--from insurance companies to doctors to hospitals--are making significant changes to their businesses to adhere to the law's new rules.</p>

<p>If you were implementing the law, what would you have done differently? What would you keep the same? In the battle for public opinion, who is winning: Democrats or Republicans?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/two-years-of-obamacare-who-is.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/two-years-of-obamacare-who-is.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Has Rep. Ryan Changed Medicare and Medicaid Dialogue?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is getting ready to release his second budget blueprint, and he isn't expected to pull any punches on Medicare.</p>

<p>Ryan told <em>National Journal's</em> Nancy Cook <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/magazine/ryan-deficit-reduction-trumps-everything-else--20120308">that the budget plan is more important</a> than Republicans winning the White House in November.</p>

<p>"The moral obligation to do something about the debt crisis trumps everything," Ryan said.</p>

<p>For health policy that means one thing: Medicare and Medicaid are once again in for a significant overhaul from Ryan, despite the upcoming presidential election and political challenges of tweaking popular health programs. Medicare and Medicaid make up a huge chunk of the deficit, especially in the long run.</p>

<p>Has Ryan succeeded in changing the dialogue of Washington policymakers when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid? Is a Medicare voucher system or block grants for Medicaid becoming an inevitable solution to the country's fiscal woes?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/has-rep-ryan-changed-medicare.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/has-rep-ryan-changed-medicare.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:30:29 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Does Congress Need IPAB?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>Two House committees meet this week to mark up a bill repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, an executive-branch board with control over Medicare prices that even Democrats don't like. A bill from Rep. <strong>Phil Roe</strong>, R-Tenn., to repeal IPAB has 19 Democratic cosponsors.</p>

<p>The 15-member IPAB garners ire on Capitol Hill because it can cut Medicare payment rates to doctors and hospitals without congressional approval. To override the board, Congress must pass its own equivalent cut with a supermajority.<br />
 <br />
Congress doesn't have a great track record when it comes to Medicare prices. One easy example: the sustainable growth rate that controls Medicare physician payments. Democrats and Republicans want to get rid of it, but can't agree how to do it. Should the executive branch get to control Medicare pricing? The executive branch controls the money supply through the Federal Reserve - is IPAB really that different?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/does-congress-need-ipab.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/03/does-congress-need-ipab.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:47:06 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>What Will Exchanges Look Like?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>HHS is due out with its rules for insurance exchanges any time now. But states and private enterprises aren't necessarily waiting for the details.</p>

<p>What interesting solutions do you see coming from the states, from the private sector and, yes, even from the federal government? Are there any missed opportunities out there? What will these exchanges look like five years from now? Will states be ready to run exchanges by this time next year?</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/what-will-exchanges-look-like.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/what-will-exchanges-look-like.php</guid>
            
            
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag">insurance exchanges</category>
            
            <pubDate>Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:17:49 GMT</pubDate>
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            <title>Was The Budget a Good Balance?</title>
            <description><![CDATA[<p>President Obama's budget proposal Monday was tough on the health care sector, which enjoyed none of the big-bucks proposals he offered in energy and infrastructure. The president repeated calls for some seniors for some seniors to pay more into Medicare, proposed deep cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and would trim expenses at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. But he also proposed some new health care money--for primary care doctors, for Alzheimer's research, for administration at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and for improved food and drug inspections in China.</p>

<p>Did the president's approach strike the right balance?<br />
</p>]]></description>
            <link>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/was-the-budget-a-good-balance.php</link>
            <guid>http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/was-the-budget-a-good-balance.php</guid>
            
            
            <pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:03:01 GMT</pubDate>
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