The Senate's health overhaul plan would cover 33 million more people but fail to curb rising health costs, could threaten some Medicare patients' access to care, and may sink profits for one-fifth of hospitals and nursing homes, according to news accounts of an HHS report released Friday afternoon.

The Associated Press: "A new report from government economic analysts at the Health and Human Services Department found that the nation's $2.5 trillion annual health care tab won't shrink under the Democratic blueprint that senators are debating. Instead, it would grow somewhat more rapidly than if Congress does nothing." The AP continues, "More troubling was the report's assessment that the Democrats' plan to squeeze Medicare for $493 billion over 10 years in savings relies on specific policy changes that 'may be unrealistic' and could lead to cuts in services."

The Washington Post: The report, by Rick Foster, chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service ... Read more »

Several new studies on health care costs reveal interesting findings.

The (Newark) Star-Ledger: "Nowhere is the sticker shock worse in the country than in New Jersey, according to health experts and a new report by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a prominent health care policy group based in Trenton. New Jersey's hospital "charges" - the price list used to negotiate the cost of a bill for the uninsured and for insured people who use a hospital outside their network - are four times higher than the actual cost of treating a patient."

"Hospital executives say the vast majority of the 1.3 million uninsured people in New Jersey never pay the full sticker price. Charges are used as a negotiating starting point," they say.

The Detroit News: "Michigan residents and health insurers spend less on health care than the national average, according to a report released today by the [University of Michigan's] Center for Healthcare Research & Transfor ... Read more »