Budgeting not enough; new cost controls OK'd in Germany

Article Abstract:

The German government has passed laws imposing health care price controls that will save $6.8 billion annually. The cost controls affect several segments of the nation's health care industry. For example, the laws will penalize physician groups and drug companies for exceeding a global budget for prescription drugs, limit physician and hospital payment rates to the wage growth rate and increase patient co-payments. The government will attempt to convert the current system of global budgeting to an incentive-based system in the next few years.

Germany, Social policy

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Medicine split on global budgeting as pressures mount

Article Abstract:

Most major medical associations and Democratic legislators favor global budgeting - setting a ceiling on the growth rate of public and private health care spending. They hope that this palliative will free them from excessive oversight by insurers. This climate of consensus has placed considerable pressure on the American Medical Assn (AMA) to include a budget provision in its Health Access America plan. until now, the AMA has favored physician collective bargaining as a way of holding costs down.

American College of Physicians, American Society of Internal Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians

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AMA to White House: don't limit competition or tax payroll

Article Abstract:

The American Medical Association (AMA) opposes payroll taxes and large purchasing groups because they would curtail competition and create, in effect, a single payer system. The AMA believes that a healthcare payroll tax would give the government complete control of the health care system. Instead, the group favors a plan that would mandate employer-sponsored coverage. The AMA has told the Clinton health care team that its support of any health care plan depends on these issues.

Planning

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