Extra Help: Some Medicare beneficiaries could qualify for assistance with their prescription drug costs, and be eligible this year to pay no more than $2.50 for generic drugs and $6.30 for each brand name drug,
The percentage of the U.S. health care bill paid for by government will grow from 45% in 2010 to 49% in 2020. In other words, it’s not growing much at all.
Hospitals could be one the hook when Medicare patients have to be readmitted soon after they had been sent home, especially if they return within one month. Medicare also wants to pay less to hospitals with higher-than-average costs for patient care.
If the deficit ceiling impasse were to drag on for more than a few weeks, health care providers could be unable to pay their staffs or even face insolvency.
Affordable Care Act will have little effect on the nation’s rising health spending in the next decade, according to a new report. But law’s supporters say report fails to take law’s cost-cutting measures into account.
Lately you’d think President Obama was threatening to push Granny off the cliff. But most of the outrage assumes — incorrectly — that any cuts would necessarily be aimed directly at Medicare patients. History suggests otherwise.
True or false? The debt ceiling debate this month has sent claims and counter claims flying, keeping the nation’s fact checkers busy. Here’s a sampling of their mid-summer efforts.
President Obama said he is “willing to look at” a number of ways to reduce health care spending, including provider cuts and changing the eligibility age for Medicare. But he dismissed the Republican approach, saying “it’s not necessary to completely revamp” Medicare to deal with the deficit and the debt ceiling.
“[It] is possible for us to construct a package that would be balanced, would share sacrifice, would involve both parties taking on their sacred cows, would involve some meaningful changes to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, that would preserve the integrity of the programs and keep our sacred trust with our seniors . . .
Rep. Jim McDermott has some advice for Democrats who support Medicare and Medicaid cuts as part of a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling: Beware of the 30-second television spot.
Class Warfare? More affluent Republicans favor reducing the deficit, while lower and middle-income Republicans side with Democrats and say that Washington should stay away from Medicare and Social Security.
Is hospice being misused?. Although intended for terminal patients, one in five hospice patients receive services for more than six months.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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