A Look At Presidential Candidates’ Plans For Medicare, Social Security
NewsHour examines what could be in store for two key benefits programs. Also, the new Medicare rule for hospital payments again targets high readmissions rates.
NewsHour:
What Clinton And Trump Propose For Social Security And Medicare
[W]ith both major party conventions over, here are the details of what might be in store for the nation’s two important benefit programs that serve older Americans, plus millions of children and disabled folks: Social Security and Medicare. ... it is instructive to see the fiscal realities that will greet any proposals involving Social Security and Medicare. (Moeller, 8/3)
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Face Record Penalties As CMS Expands Criteria For Readmissions Fines
The CMS released a slew of revisions Tuesday to how it will pay hospitals in its fiscal 2017, which begins in October. Under those changes, thousands of hospitals will see an increase in penalties for 30-day readmissions.Those penalties would save Medicare an estimated $538 million, or an increase of about $108 million over the previous year, the agency said, even as it projected that its total spending on inpatient hospital services would increase by about $746 million in the coming fiscal year. (Whitman, 8/3)
Related KHN coverage: Medicare’s Readmission Penalties Hit New High (Rau, 8/2)