parsa khan's List: REV Media Mahsup:HealthCompare 4.23.2010

The military’s latest enemy: rising health-care costs.

The combination of caring for active troops’ physical and mental ailments and retirees opting for military-sponsored coverage means spending will reach $50.7 billion next year — up 167% since 2001, USA Today reports. The rate of increase is twice that of overall U.S. health-care spending.

The two chief goals of the health-care overhaul were to expand coverage and make a dent in ever-increasing costs. An analysis from Medicare’s chief actuary projects that legislation will succeed on the first count, but spending will edge up slightly over the next decade, the Associated Press reports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About four 4 million people in the United States could be fined for failing to buy health insurance when the health overhaul law is fully in force in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Thursday.

Reporting from Washington — The new healthcare overhaul championed by President Obama may result in lower Medicare premiums for seniors and a more sustainable Medicare program, according to an analysis of the legislation issued Thursday night by independent actuaries at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.