Jill Wechsler

Employers weighing coverage options will continue providing healthcare benefits.

Ryan's proposals for radical changes in Medicare and Medicaid are at the center of the presidential campaign.

The GOP is looking to gain control of the White House and Congress to restructure healthcare.

Policymakers examine Medicare reform proposals in an attempt to control spending.

Efforts to reduce outlays are generating initiatives to better manage the care for some 10 million dual eligibles.

Medicare Part D plans apply a range of tools to control costs and provide quality care.

Everyone has their take on the Supreme Court ruling, but it's time for the industry to roll up its sleeves and get back to work.

Medicare data could give payers information on rising provider costs.

Congress wants to get serious about fixing the Medicare formula for reimbursing physicians, an initiative that would affect healthcare rates and expenditures more broadly.

While the politicians campaign, the federal government will continue to roll out the programs created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Obama administration has moved one step closer to defining the healthcare services insurers will have to offer in exchanges.

A wave of consolidation among providers is being blamed for driving up costs.

Industry executives were grilled at congressional hearings and summoned to a White House meeting called by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss rising premiums

One of the main revenue-raising provisions in health reform legislation is to revise methods for calculating payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

Two senators investigating medical loss ratios and pricing rationale for small-business policies

Tweak them all you want, policies still lack enough action to truly bend the cost curve

Congress is hard at work blending multiple bills while most believe reform will be enacted this year

Coverage percentages in the high 90s needed to reach critical mass and spread risk

More modest legislative package would stand to gain bipartisan approval in light of Baucus plan reaction

Exchanges could channel subsidies, specify plan design and provide an efficient way to enroll members

Insurers believe the campaign aims to distract attention away from faltering support for public plan option

The public plan could be a co-op, or it could be placed under a trigger mechanism that would kick in if the private market doesn't live up to expectations

Democrats back insurance market changes, coverage mandates and a public plan option. House leaders generally ignored Republican protests.

Private insurers might need to offer parallel incentives for the accountable care organization model to have critical mass in paying for quality

Private fee-for-service plans are under scruntiny as perhaps being partly responsible for skyrocketing Medicare expenditures.

Providers, plans and pharma companies promise to produce savings through tried and true methods, but skeptics doubt they'll make any sacrifices

Policy makers focus on consumer protection and health plan conduct

The economy trumps all for President-elect Obama, so healthcare spending must be re-examined if programs stand any chance of succeeding

President-elect Obama selects former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle as HHS secretary

Ambitious new efforts to expand healthcare coverage may be ruled out in the near future.