MedicareCosts

Two Republican senators unveiled a Medicare overhaul Thursday that features an accelerated transition to private health insurance for many seniors, a gradual increase in the eligibility age, and higher premiums for middle-class and upper-income retirees.

Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation's economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday. Experts debated whether it's a fleeting consequence of the sluggish economy, or a real sign that cost controls by private employers and government at all levels are starting to work.

Medicare says it's launching a national experiment to improve care for seniors, and hopefully save taxpayers money as well. Officials announced that 32 networks of doctors and hospitals around the country are becoming Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations, or ACO, which will pursue a coordinated approach to medicine.

Medicare's basic monthly premium will rise significantly less than expected next year, which could pay political dividends for President Obama and Democrats struggling to win over seniors in a close election. The new Part B premium for outpatient care will be $99.90 a month for 2012, or about $7 less than projected as recently as May.

As the federal super committee looks for $1.5 trillion in cuts, it's clear that fixing the federal budget will mean tackling big items -- including Medicare, America's most popular social program and one of its most expensive.

One often expressed suggestion for controlling public health care costs is for Medicare to adopt a strategy of the private insurance industry by assigning a care coordinator to the patient. This coordinator could, theoretically, identify care overlap, unnecessary procedures, lower-cost...