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Byline: Matthew DoBias If Republicans have one rallying cry in their fight to repeal last year's health care law, it's that people should have the freedom to make their own [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias It has been a rough stretch for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. The Wisconsin RepublicanÇÖs proposal to privatize Medicare has been met with handwringing among Republicans [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias When the Medicare trusteesÇÖ report came out last week, eyes naturally went to one numberÇöthe year that MedicareÇÖs hospital trust fund is projected to become insolvent. The [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Faced with contrasting visions from the two political parties over how to control health care costs, hospital and physiciansÇÖ groups this week cast a largely unnoticed vote [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias It wasnÇÖt entirely a surprise when President Obama, in his recent speech on deficit reduction, doubled down on his commitment to an independent Medicare cost-reduction board established [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias States that have long complained about the rising cost of Medicaid may have even more to worry about under a House-passed plan to turn the program into [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias A week after lawmakers reached an uneasy deal on the budget for the remainder of this fiscal year, details of the agreement are still coming to lightÇöand [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Paul RyanÇÖs budget fix aims to slow the driving engine of the U.S. health care systemÇöMedicare and Medicaid. But itÇÖs a top-down plan, not one that comes [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The Hispanic population boom recorded in last weekÇÖs census data portends huge challenges for a health care system that has struggled to meet that communityÇÖs needs. Today, [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The health care law turns one year old on March 23, and itÇÖs still unclear whether it will be President ObamaÇÖs Waterloo or his criticsÇÖ Appomattox. Those [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias When it comes to implementing health care reform, California resembles the overeager pupil who sits in the front row and shoots her hand up to answer every [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Richard Foster does not seek the spotlight, but it nevertheless has a way of finding him. He's a numbers guy at an agency--the Centers for Medicare and [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The confluence of a weak economy, years of budget cuts, and mounting fiscal pressure has caught up with the nation's governors, forcing them to make life-or-death decisions [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The health care reform law continues to grow simultaneously more real and more embattled. Republicans continue to mount legal and legislative challenges against it--a dynamic illustrated by [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Barbara Spear may not be a household name, but her role as Connecticutâs acting insurance commissioner has shot her to fame, or infamy, in the health care [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Nebraska native Ben Nelson is part of a dying breed of federal lawmakers: a conservative Democrat who works the middle of the aisle. He has, at times, [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Health insurance companies have enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Republican Party and even helped bankroll many of its big wins on Election Day. So why, then, [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias While the new health care law continues to dog Democrats in the here and now, the next election cycle could actually be worse for key supporters. In [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The new health care law wants you to quit smoking, exercise more, drive less, eat better, and do your part to reverse the country's soaring rates of [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias As Democrats struggle to maintain control of Congress, the health industry groups that supported President Obama's vision of a reformed health care system are mostly sticking with [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias For all of the attention surrounding President Obama's bipartisan commission on deficit reduction, the country's biggest cost centers -- health care in general and Medicare specifically -- [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The thought of repealing the health care reform law and replacing it with a more conservative blueprint may play well in Peoria, but few along Washington's K [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Capitol Hill won't be the only Washington hub shaken up by the November elections. National health care groups, many of which collectively fought to shape the health [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias LOOKING FOR MORE? The health care reform law has been the gift that keeps on giving for Republicans, but its latest offering could prove to be the [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias and Jennifer Lubell Two reports released last week by Obama administration officials contend that the new health reform law will tamp down healthcare costs and put Medicare [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias With Donald Berwick sworn in as the new CMS administrator last week, the Obama White House may have won that war, but could still lose in other [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias State insurance officials say funding shortfalls for a new federal-state program that expands coverage to the uninsured and chronically ill could result in some qualified enrollees being [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias House leaders said they would take up a healthcare-heavy bill that temporarily patches Medicare physician payments early this week, though it could prove a tough sell to [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias House and Senate negotiators have drafted a pathway for a five-year fix to the Medicare physician payment formula that would give doctors a 1.2% raise for the [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias As the Obama administration continues to enact provisions of the healthcare reform law, efforts to prevent its adoption are growing stronger. Republican lawmakers intend to frame the [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have shown renewed interest in mandating a boost in healthcare pricing transparency. But one key player, the chairman [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The White House last week hit back at Republican charges that Donald Berwick, the administration's nominee to fill the top post at the CMS, favors rationed care [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias President Barack Obama signed legislation late April 15 that temporarily holds off a steep cut in physician Medicare payments and lengthens benefits under the COBRA program. The [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias With health reform legislation signed and official Washington in downshift mode, government agencies charged with implementing the complex new law are flexing their own muscles. Purposely quiet [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias A longtime healthcare-quality advocate could get lost in the political turmoil on Capitol Hill as fallout from the hyperpartisan reform debate continues. Physician Donald Berwick, 63, a [...]

Byline: Jennifer Lubell and Matthew DoBias Hospitals, doctors and other providers view the nation's largest overhaul of the healthcare system in nearly 50 years as a positive stepwhile bracing themselves [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Democrats on Capitol Hill inched closer to finishing a yearlong effort to reshape the U.S. healthcare system. House and Senate leaders completed a last-minute agreement that importantly [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Even with a stepped up presence by President Barack Obama and a mid-March deadline for a vote, the prospects of Congress passing healthcare system overhaul legislation remain [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The highly publicized bipartisan healthcare summit did little to soothe a widening partisan rift on Capitol Hill last week, leaving Democratic lawmakers seeking alternative plans for health [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The Obama administration vowed to release its own health reform proposal ahead of a highly publicized, bipartisan summit this week and despite a scarcity of detailsand optimismin [...]

Byline: Jennifer Lubell and Matthew DoBias What just weeks ago seemed inevitable now seems impossibleunless lawmakers and the president can revive massive healthcare reforms bills that survived both the House [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Congressional Democrats made progress last week in the effort to produce a single healthcare overhaul bill, but were faced with a new challenge over the potential loss [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias and Jennifer Lubell Hospital industry leaders in witnessing the historic passage of the Senate's healthcare overhaul bill know that the way they do business in the healthcare [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias After a grueling legislative session and a mad dash to the finish line, lawmakers from both the House and Senate last week began the process of melding [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias A proposal to extend the Medicare program to adults aged 55 to 64, crafted as an eleventh-hour replacement for a troubled public insurance option, has kicked up [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Several cost-savings amendments to the Senate's health overhaul bill could create logistical headaches for the White House by imposing more and faster payment changes. One amendment, backed [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Having moved their health overhaul bill to the debate stage, Senate Democrats now face a minefield of issues that threaten to squash the reform effort altogether. Rifts [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias The nation's largest hospital lobby has braced itself for a fight against three main components of a massive Senate bill that aims to reshape the $2.5 trillion [...]

Byline: Jennifer Lubell and Matthew DoBias In considering legislation to fix Medicare's troubled physician payment formula, House Democrats face two potential problems: lack of cooperation from the Senate if they [...]

Byline: Matthew DoBias Lawmakers in Washington ratcheted up pressure on hospitals to support a public plan option that pays them based on Medicare rates even while the sector has continued [...]