Also in the Senate health reform bill

Believe it or not, there’s more to the Senate healthcare reform bill than a public option and individual mandates. Kaiser Health News this week listed seven things you didn’t know were in the Senate health bill.

Here are a few I thought would be of interest to you:
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1. The Senate bill aims to boost payments for bone density scans. Payments have dropped by more than half since 2006, so the bill would increase rates to 70 percent of what Medicare paid in2006.

2. Hospitals would have to limit how much they charge low-income uninsured ER patients to the lowers amount they receive from insured patients for the same service. A 2007 study showed uninsured ER patients are often charged 2 ½ times what health insurers paid and more than three times the hospital’s Medicare-allowable charges.

3. Nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans would have to spend at least 85 cents of every premium dollar on health services or forfeit their federal tax deductions. (Of the 39 Blues plans, 24 are nonprofit.)

4. Pharmaceutical benefit managers would have to disclose details of their negotiations for discounts on prescription drugs with retail pharmacies and wholesalers. The transparency is intended to lower prices.