Lawmaker inquiry may bump Medicare costs
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A lawmaker's inquiry could slightly increase the cost of the Medicare drug benefit if its results are publicized, congressional auditors said Tuesday.
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Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson suggested raising out-of-pocket costs for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries, and rival Rudy Giuliani ruled out a Social Security tax increase Wednesday in auditions for support from influential economic conservatives.
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Auditors will be sent to investigate techniques used by states to shift hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid costs to the U.S. government.
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Medicare premiums for doctor visits will rise 17 percent next year, the Bush administration said Friday. The &#36;11.60-a-month increase is the largest in the program's 40-year-history.
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Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in private, managed care plans cost the government 12.4 percent more than those in the traditional program last year, for a total cost of more than $5.2 billion, according to a study released Thursday.
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WASHINGTON -- Filling the doughnut hole in Medicare drug plans would cost seniors and the disabled about $40 a month more.
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As some lawmakers clamor for letting Medicare directly negotiate drug prices, Medicare's chief said on Wednesday that the health program for the elderly could save more money by letting the private sector set prices.
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Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday battled over blame for a record increase in Medicare health premiums, which Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has criticized in his campaign to unseat President Bush.
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Older Americans will have to pay about 17 percent more next year -- the largest increase in Medicare's history -- for their government-run health insurance, U.S. officials announced on Friday.
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The Bush administration will ask Congress to increase the monthly premiums that wealthier Medicare beneficiaries pay for prescription drug coverage, officials said Friday.
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The attorney general is looking into whether insurers forced patients to overpay for out-of-network doctors.
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Some Iowans may cut back on their coverage, and the state faces having to pay more for Medicaid, officials say. Sharply higher Medicare premiums announced last week by the Bush administration will have a double
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Older Americans will have to pay  about 17 percent more next year -- the largest increase in  Medicare's history -- for their government-run health  insurance, U.S. officials announced on Friday.
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Members of Congress expressed concern about new data indicating that Medicare pays private health plans more than it would cost to care for the same patients in the traditional program.
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WASHINGTON - Medicare premiums for doctor visits are going up a record $11.60 a month next year. The Bush administration says the increase reflects a strengthened Medicare, while Democrats complain that seniors are being unfairly socked...
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The Bush administration is advancing a proposal to levy higher premiums and deductibles on upper-income seniors enrolled in Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, raising fees on beneficiaries with incomes over about $80,000 a year, administration officials said yesterday.
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Soon to be in charge of Congress, Democrats are looking to chip away at billions of dollars in payments to the health insurance companies that run Medicare's managed care programs.