Tag: Medicare

  • Nation & World

    Social Security, Medicare far from doomed, policy expert says

    Policy expert Louise Sheiner of Brookings Institution puts the panic over the latest projections in perspective.

    9 minutes
    Photo illustration of Social Security underwater.
  • Nation & World

    Prospect dim for Biden plan to bolster Medicare, health policy expert says

    President Biden’s budget highlighted the projected Medicare shortfalls and proposed a solution, almost certainly dead on arrival in the Republican-held House. Health care policy expert John McDonough takes a look at what’s real and what’s politics.

    8 minutes
    John McDonough.
  • Nation & World

    The gap between our teeth

    A new study examines the drop in dental care at age 65 and the health consequences associated with the lapse in coverage.

    3 minutes
    Tooth.
  • Nation & World

    Spending dips on health care for the Medicare elderly

    Health care spending among the Medicare population age 65 and older has slowed dramatically since 2005, and as much as half of that reduction can be attributed to reduced spending on cardiovascular disease, a new Harvard study has found.

    5 minutes
    David Cutler
  • Nation & World

    States hold the power on health care, experts say

    A Harvard Chan School forum discussed the stakes for U.S. health care in the midterm elections, including the prospect of Medicaid expansion.

    3 minutes
    John McDonough, Robert Blendon, and Yasmeen Abutaleb.
  • Nation & World

    Lower health care costs may last

    A slowdown in the growth of U.S. health care costs could mean a savings of as much as $770 billion on Medicare spending over the next decade, Harvard economists say.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Making lung cancer pricey

    Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius talked tobacco taxes and health care reform Monday during an appearance at the Forum at Harvard School of Public Health.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Green light for Obamacare

    Health care specialists discussed post-election Obamacare, including potential bumps in the road, in a panel talk at the Harvard School of Public Health.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Health care could swing voters

    A new analysis of 37 national opinion polls conducted by 17 survey organizations finds that health care is the second most important issue for likely voters in deciding their 2012 presidential vote. This is the highest that health care has been ranked as a presidential election issue since 1992.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Doctor knots

    Harvard researchers have developed a method to determine the effect of social networks among doctors on cost and quality of care across the nation.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Moving beyond health care’s fee-for-service

    Harvard researchers find that global budgets for health care, an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service model of reimbursement, can slow the growth of medical spending and improve the quality of care for patients.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Paying hospitals to improve doesn’t work

    A new study from Harvard School of Public Health finds no evidence that the largest hospital-based pay-for-performance program in the U.S. improved 30-day mortality rates, a measure of whether patients survive their hospitalization.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Portrait of the Tea Party

    New book documents a rising movement of likable people with offbeat ideas, who constitute a major influence on the Republican Party in this presidential election.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    VHA vs. Medicare: And the winner is …

    A Harvard Medical School-led study shows that cancer care provided by the Veterans Health Administration for men 65 years and older is at least as good as, and by some measures better than, Medicare-funded fee-for-service care obtained through the private sector.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Health reform may require a crisis

    ABC’s medical editor Timothy Johnson, M.P.H. ’76, predicted sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system, but not before a budget calamity caused by rising health care costs forces politicians’ hands.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Designing a stronger safety net

    A new series of free financial planning seminars, sponsored by the Harvard Benefits Office, aims to get employees thinking about retirement long before the last paycheck comes. The next session is April 7.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Chronic condition

    Panelists discussed the impact, failures, and future of health care reform at a Harvard Kennedy School event on Feb. 23.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Mixed messages

    A comparative analysis found wide disparities in the results of four common measures of hospital-wide mortality rates, with competing methods yielding both higher- and lower-than-expected rates for the same Massachusetts hospitals during the same year.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Divided they stand

    What to expect in 2011 and beyond? After this month’s midterm elections, Harvard’s resident analysts look ahead to Congress’ upcoming agenda, from tax reform to foreign policy to the 2012 political calculus.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    When cost-cutting backfires

    Chronically ill elderly patients, when asked to bear a higher share of health care costs, cut prescription drug use and office visits. Consequently, they were hospitalized more often, according to a Harvard Kennedy School study.

    4 minutes