Opioid epidemic showing signs of turning corner, state drug czar says
Visits to emergency rooms in Indiana for drug overdoses are falling, and doctors are writing fewer prescriptions for opioid painkillers, Jim McClelland said Friday.
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Dental care out of reach for many poor Indy residents
In Indianapolis’ 10 poorest census tracts, 60 percent of residents had not visited a dentist within 12 months, according to an IBJ analysis of CDC and Census Bureau research. But in the 10 tracts with the lowest poverty rates, just 25 percent hadn’t.
Trump administration takes another swipe at ‘Obamacare’
The Trump administration is freezing payments under an "Obamacare" program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses, a move expected to add to premium increases next year.
House OKs expansion of private care at VA, budget crisis fix
The House voted Wednesday to give veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the Veterans Affairs health system, a major shift aimed at reducing wait times and improving medical care.
Health maintenance organization MDwise struggles to find way forward
The not-for-profit that helps low-income Hoosiers get health care coverage and social services lost $60 million in 2016 and cut about 80 jobs last year.
Feds approve work rules for HIP 2.0, more addiction funding
As many as 130,000 of the 400,000 people now covered by the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 will be required to work, take part in school or training, or do community service to continue receiving insurance benefits in 2019.
HHS secretary Azar to visit Indy as state awaits Medicaid work ruling
Barely two weeks after being confirmed as U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services, former Eli Lilly and Co. executive Alex Azar is returning to Indianapolis on Friday for an announcement with state officials.
IU Med School raises $135M in NIH funding for 2017, setting record
The funds includes $7.6 million to study early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, $5.2 million to fund a clinical and translational sciences institute, and $4.8 million to fund epidemiologic databases to evaluate AIDS care in Africa.
Trump work requirement rewrites health care rules for poor
The Trump administration said Thursday it will allow states to require "able-bodied" Medicaid recipients to work, a hotly debated first in the enormous program's half-century history.
Trump health pick wary of government drug price negotiations
Alex Azar, a former Eli Lilly and Co. executive, acknowledged to the Senate Finance Committee that drug prices are too high and said he'd work to lower them if confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Obamacare sign-up tally dips slightly, to 8.7 million
HealthCare.gov enrollment reached nearly 95 percent of last year's level, outperforming projections in a show of consumer demand, despite a shortened sign-up season and big cuts in the ad budget.
More consumers qualifying for free Obamacare
Experts say wider availability of no-premium plans is the unintended consequence of Trump administration actions to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
Obamacare sign-ups well ahead of last year’s pace
Sign-ups for Affordable Care Act health plans are running more than 45 percent ahead of last year's pace as people rush to meet a shorter deadline.
Trump names former Lilly exec as new health secretary
If confirmed by the Senate, former Eli Lilly and Co. exec Alex Azar will oversee a $1 trillion department responsible for major health insurance programs, medical research, food and drug safety, and public health.
Trump expected to name ex-Lilly exec to lead Health & Human Services
Alex Azar, who ran U.S. operations for Eli Lilly before leaving in January, would be the administration’s point person on running—or dismantling—Obamacare.
States lose push to force Trump to restart health subsidies
A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected a request from 18 states and the District of Columbia and scolded the coalition for claiming health care costs would rise without federal help.
States ask U.S. court to keep up health subsidies cut by Trump
Top government lawyers representing 19 U.S. states on Wednesday asked a federal judge in California to force the administration of President Donald Trump to make health care subsidy payments that Trump abruptly cut off last week.
Senators reach bipartisan deal to prop up Obamacare, keep subsidies
Senators in both political parties say they’ve reached agreement on fixes to stabilize Obamacare just two weeks before Americans start signing up for 2018 coverage.
Senators say they have outline of health insurance deal
Two leading senators said Tuesday they have the “basic outlines” of a bipartisan agreement to resume federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked.
Trump moving ‘step by step’ to take apart Obamacare on his own
Shares of publicly traded hospital chains including Tenet Healthcare Corp. slumped on Friday, as did insurers such as Centene Corp. and Anthem Inc.