Category: Medicare
Medicare failing to monitor prescribers, putting seniors and disabled at risk
An analysis of four years of Medicare prescription records shows that some doctors and other health professionals across the country prescribe large quantities of drugs that are potentially harmful, disorienting or addictive.
Medicare data show wide variation in hospital pricing
For the first time anybody can get an idea of what their hospitals are billing Medicare for something and how much the government is paying.
Inexpensive ways to stay healthy – CDC
Learn free or low-cost ways to be healthy. Making healthy choices may help prevent injury, disease, and disability. Stay healthy on the cheap by including smart choices that are low-cost or free. Many are simple too.
Bipartisan Center offers plan to cut health spending
The plan offers more than 50 recommendations that would cut the federal deficit by about $560 billion over the next decade. About $300 billion of those savings would come from Medicare.
Five ways the president’s budget would change Medicare
President Obama’s 2014 budget plan includes a number of money-saving changes to Medicare, some of which have triggered concern from patient and provider groups.
Sequestration spares Medicaid and Medicare but cuts many health programs for low-income Americans
The sequestration’s automatic cuts will make it more difficult for low-income Americans to get maternal and infant care, vaccinate their children, and receive treatment for mental illness.
What’s the price? Simple question, complicated answer in Medicare
I wrote to Medicare a while back, asking for a price.
Here’s what I wanted to know: How much does Medicare pay a particular hospital in Boston for a colonoscopy?
The first emailed response I got . . . was barely in English.
Government-run health care that works – in conservative Arizona
Arizona occupies an unusual place in the national landscape: as a model for how a generously-funded, tightly regulated government program can aid vulnerable, low-income patients like Antonia Lopez
Michelle Andrews answers to readers’ health insurance questions
Can insurers limit contraception coverage? Can early retirees get cheaper plans through health insurance exchanges? What options are their for low-income consumers in states that refuse to expand Medicaid coverage?
Nurse practitioners say pay policies limit their practices more than scope-of-practice laws
Many nurse practitioners say payment policies have a greater effect on care they can provide than state “scope-of-practice” laws do.
Are long-term care insurance rates going up for women?
Although the Affordable Care Act seeks to end health plans’ use of gender to set prices, the new rules don’t apply to policies for long-term care.
Nurse practitioners say they can help meet the primary care provider shortage
More than 27 million Americans will soon gain health coverage under the health law. But who will treat them all? Despite doubts from some doctor groups, nurse practitioners can provide care for this new influx of patients without sacrificing the quality of care, says the CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Medicaid expansion puts spotlight shortage of primary care providers
The Affordable Care Act will usher at least seven million more Americans into Medicaid next year, but the question of whether enough doctors will be there to welcome them is keeping some state health policymakers up at night.
Office of the Insurance Commissioner launches revamped, mobile-friendly website
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner has launched a redesigned, mobile-friendly website that should be easier for both consumers and industry professionals to use.
Shortage of residency positions making it difficult for physicians to complete their training.
Medical schools have responded to the physician shortage by increasing admissions, but residency programs have not been able to follow suit. As a result, for the first time in its history, the US may see a decline in the number of practicing physicians.
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