As the days countdown to November’s general election, many things are being colored by presidential politics, especially health care and the Affordable Care Act.
In particular, Medicare Advantage was recently caught in the cross-talk, with Obama administration officials touting the program’s growing enrollment and low premium increase for 2012. On the flip side? Republican members of congress and health insurance executives wasted no time highlighting impending cuts to MA that designed to fund other Affordable Care Act programs. They noted that low-income seniors could suffer under such cuts.
In other news, the family doctors want to be sure that physicians are tasked with leading the patient-centered medical home – not nurses. The American Academy of Family Physicians released a new position paper emphasizing just that – and the role of nurse practitioners as a medical home team member – but not the leader.
For that and more, listen to this week’s edition of the Policy & Practice Podcast:
--Denise Fulton (@denisefulton)