Medicare
Medicare Office Closures Raise Anxiety for Seniors
At greater risk from Covid-19, some seniors face added anxiety due to delays obtaining Medicare coverage.
Read moreMedicare and Social Security Both at Risk
The financial condition of the government’s two biggest benefit programs remains shaky, with Medicare expected to become insolvent in just six years, while Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2035, the government said Wednesday.
Read moreWhite House Unveils Plan to Cover Virus Treatment for Uninsured
The Trump administration on Wednesday rolled out its plan to reimburse health care providers that treat patients with Covid-19 who do not have health insurance.
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Covenant Medical Center and 52 other hospitals sued Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in federal court, claiming he failed to properly calculate payments for inpatient hospital days for Medicare patients.
Read moreHealth Care
Twelve hospitals, in four states, sued Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in federal court, claiming he illegally reduced the number of residents they could claim per year under a Medicare program for hospitals to train medical residents.
Read moreMedicare Fraud
The Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the U.S. government against a company that provided clinical testing services for nursing home residents, finding that the company obtained millions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements for miles their technicians did not actually travel.
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11th Circuit Tackles Eye Doc’s $73 Million Health Care Fraud
Fighting to seal a historic health care fraud conviction Friday, government lawyers reminded the 11th Circuit that, in his heyday as an eye doctor, Salomon Melgen had billed Medicare more than 90 times for diagnostic testing on a patient’s prosthetic eye.
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Feds Search How Private Medicare Info Gets to Marketers
A government watchdog plans to launch a nationwide probe into how telemarketers may be getting hold of seniors’ personal Medicare information, a red flag for potential fraud.
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Defense Prioritized in Trump Budget, as Medicaid Sees Slash
President Donald Trump released his final budget before the 2020 election on Monday, calling for cuts to public programs like Medicaid while boosting defense spending.
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Trump Budget Delivers Trillion-Dollar Deficit
Confronted with the threat of trillion-dollar-plus deficits for as far as the eye can see, President Trump is offering a $4.8 trillion budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year that rehashes previously rejected spending cuts while leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched.
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Iowa Democrats Worry ‘Medicare for All’ Hurts Key Industry
Kim Motl doesn’t work in the health insurance industry. But her friends and neighbors do. So when she saw Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Motl pressed the Democratic presidential candidate about her “Medicare for All” plan, which would replace private insurance with a government-run system.
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Medicare Drug Program Can Steer Seniors to Higher Costs
Medicare’s revamped prescription plan finder can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay, according to people who help with sign-ups and program experts.
Read moreWarren Envisions Slow Rollout of Medicare for All
About two weeks after announcing her plan to provide Medicare for All without raising middle-class taxes, Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren explained Friday how she intends to launch that new health care system.
Read moreUS Judge Blocks Trump’s Health Insurance Rule for Immigrants
A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas.
Read moreWarren Touts No New Middle-Class Taxes in Health Care Plan
Unveiling her much-anticipated Medicare for All proposal on Friday, Senator Elizabeth Warren called health care a human right and promised she would not raise taxes on the middle class by even a penny to enact the plan.
Read moreMedicare
National Public Radio sued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in federal court for records on antipsychotic drug use and the names of corporate nursing home chains that the CMS has identified as using antipsychotic medication at high rates at some 1,500 nursing homes.
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Most Americans Want National Health Care – as an Option
A large majority of Americans support the creation of a national health insurance plan, according to a new poll.
Read moreMedicare Fraud Rules Eyed for Overhaul
Health and Human Services touted two Medicare law changes proposed Wednesday by the Trump administration, saying they will enable specialty clinicians to share data with a patient’s primary care physician, coordinating better care.
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