Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Remember back in 2003 when the insurance industry said that the creation of the Medicare Advantage program — which allows Medicare patients to receive their health coverage through private plans — would save both the government and patients money?
Scratch that.
Seniors enrolled in MA prescription drug plans will, on average, pay 14 percent more in premium costs this year than they did in 2009, according to a report released today by Avalere Health, a DC-based consulting firm. And for one particularly popular type of MA plan — called private fee for service — the increase will top 31 percent, Avalere reports.
The cost hikes, according to Lindsey Spindle, an Avalere vice president, “fit into a broader trend of increased financial pressure on the insured through rising co-pays and increased premiums.”
So if patients are paying more for MA plans, that must mean that the government is paying less, right?
Wrong.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has long reported that the government pays much more to cover the average MA patient than it does to cover those enrolled in traditional Medicare. In 2009, it paid 14 percent more for a typical MA enrollee. A part of that additional cost, MedPAC noted last year, “consists of funds used for plan administration and profits and not direct health care services for beneficiaries.”
Translation: Taxpayers are paying tremendous subsidies to insurance companies which, in turn, are hiking premiums on seniors.
Medicare privatization, of course, has been a goal of conservatives since the program was launched more than four decades ago. The theory has been that the private sector is more nimble and cost effective, that it can offer additional services at the same time it’s lowering costs. It would be a better argument if only it were true.
(h/t The Hill)
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