Source: White House finds Pelosi drug plan ‘unworkable’
President Trump is instead backing a bipartisan bill that would for the first time limit what seniors have to pay out of their own pockets for medications.
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Warren pledges no middle class tax increase in $20T health care plan
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s plan is built on transferring to the government 98% of the $8.8 trillion she estimates that employers will spend on private insurance for their employees.
Trump, Pelosi still working on drug-pricing deal despite impeachment drama
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could hardly be more at odds—but behind the scenes, they’re still grasping at a bipartisan deal to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Overhaul proposed for decades-old Medicare fraud rules
The regulations are now seen as an obstacle to progress because Medicare has put a premium on coordination among care providers. The complex requirements of the original rules can have a chilling effect on hospitals and doctors working together, officials say.
Doctors don’t always know what patients will owe for meds
While the price of almost any good or service can be found online, most Americans don’t know what they’ll owe for a prescription medication until they get it.
Popular Medicare Advantage plans come under fire
Regulators say the insurance industry has been annually overbilling the government by billions of dollars, and now the federal government is stepping up moves to recoup money.
Medicare to cover pioneering cancer treatment nationwide
The treatment costs $375,000 or $475,000, depending on whether it is used for advanced lymphoma or pediatric leukemia. Hospital stays can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of care.
Drug cost bill advances but GOP resistance could spell trouble
A prescription drug compromise that would lower costs for Medicare recipients and save billions for Medicare and Medicaid cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Thursday.
Senators unveil compromise to reduce drug costs for seniors
Iowa Republican Charles Grassley and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said the bill would for the first time limit drug copays for people with Medicare’s “Part D” prescription plan, by capping patients’ out-of-pocket costs.
Medicare chief Verma uses forecast as warning for expand-it-to-all plans
The Trump administration’s top Medicare official used an annual report on the program’s fiscal outlook to attack proposals by some Democrats to expand government health-care coverage to all Americans.
Feds charge two dozen in billion-dollar Medicare brace scam
Federal agents on Tuesday broke up a billion-dollar Medicare scam that peddled unneeded orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors.
Watchdog to examine Medicare chief Seema Verma’s publicity spending
Verma, a protege of Vice President Mike Pence and the architect of Indiana’s Medicaid expansion, appears to have steered agency money to political allies in an effort to boost her reputation, prominent Democrats say.
Hospitals get socked for safety concerns
In Indiana, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is docking 22 hospitals for high rates of infection and patient injuries.
Poll: Support for ‘Medicare-for-all’ fluctuates wildly with details
“Medicare-for-all” makes a good first impression, but support plunges when people are asked if they’d pay higher taxes or put up with treatment delays to get it.
Nursing homes start facing pinch of penalties for hospital readmissions
The penalties will be as much as 2 percent of Medicare reimbursements, and could be worth millions of dollars to large nursing-home chains with locations spread across Indiana and the nation.
Hospitals hit with fines over patient readmissions
Indiana hospitals are racking up millions of dollars in penalties for having too many patients return for care within a month of discharge.
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.
Medicare ruling casts cloud over miniature-hospital movement
Whether so-called micro-hospitals can succeed financially might depend on whether they can meet Medicare’s definition of a hospital: a medical facility that dedicates the bulk of its services to inpatient care.
Obamacare-shy insurers see profit, growth in senior care
Searching for stability, big insurers such as Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc. are focusing on Medicare Advantage, a politically popular program embraced by a growing population of older Americans.