Latest 麻豆女优 Health News Stories
A Legal Battle Over Herring Fishing Has Big Implications for Health Care
What do herring fishing and health policy have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out, owing to a case now before the Supreme Court. If the justices rule as expected, based on this month鈥檚 oral arguments, they could dramatically change the way federal health agencies operate. 鈥淭he upheaval caused 鈥 would be immense,鈥 argues […]
The FTC Escalates Biden鈥檚 Fight Against Drug Prices
It鈥檚 daggers out at the Federal Trade Commission in its fight against anticompetitive practices in health care. This past year, it has issued more stringent guidelines to block and discourage hospital mergers, and it investigated practices by middlemen in the drug supply chain. Now drug manufacturers themselves are in the agency鈥檚 crosshairs. In November, the FTC challenged the validity of more […]
Medicare Advantage Is Popular, but Some Beneficiaries Feel Buyer鈥檚 Remorse
Medicare Advantage plans are booming 鈥 30.8 million of the 60 million Americans with Medicare are now enrolled in the private plans rather than the traditional government-run program. But a little-known fact: Once you鈥檙e in a Medicare Advantage plan, you may not be able to get out. Traditional Medicare usually requires beneficiaries to pay 20 […]
Climate Change Raises Pressure on Biden To Keep Workers Cooler
With climate change posing rising threats to human health, the Biden administration is drafting federal rules to protect construction crews, warehouse workers, delivery drivers and the rest of America鈥檚 workforce from extreme heat. The regulatory effort has been years in the making, and its fate is far from certain. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration […]
Biden Cracks Down on Prior Authorization 鈥 But There Are Limits
More than a year after it was initially proposed, the Biden administration announced a final rule yesterday that will change how insurers in federal programs such as Medicare Advantage use prior authorization 鈥 a long-standing system that prevents many patients from accessing doctor-recommended care. 鈥淲hen a doctor says a patient needs a procedure, it is […]
Alex Azar鈥檚 Unusual Spin Through the Revolving Door
Washington鈥檚 infamous revolving door took an unusual turn for former Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar. Azar spent about a decade with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. before coming to the nation鈥檚 capital to lead HHS in the Trump administration. But in September 2020, just a couple of months before former president Donald […]
The AMA Wants a Medicare Cut Reversed 鈥 And Lawmakers To Stay Out of Care
Congress is back this week and feverishly working on a bipartisan agreement to fund the government for the rest of the 2024 fiscal year. Ahead of a potential vote, I spoke with Jesse Ehrenfeld, the president of the American Medical Association, the nation鈥檚 largest lobby group for doctors, about his organization鈥檚 priorities in Washington. Some […]
Will CMS Crack Down on Prior Authorization?
There鈥檚 the Idaho doctor whose infant daughter developed a brain tumor. A woman in Southern California who waited months for an MRI before dying in the hospital. And a North Carolina patient who has trigeminal neuralgia 鈥 a condition so painful it鈥檚 commonly called the 鈥渟uicide disease.鈥 They all have something in common, aside from […]
鈥楩orever Chemicals鈥 Contaminate America鈥檚 Freshwater Fish
Gone fishing? Depending on the lake, your catch may not be safe to eat. A group of chemicals collectively known as PFAS are found in hundreds of consumer goods, including dental floss, rain jackets and nonstick cookware. Over decades, these chemicals have spewed from manufacturing plants and landfills into local ecosystems, polluting surface water and […]
Utah Survey Shows Why So Many People Were Dumped From Medicaid
It鈥檚 one of the biggest mysteries in health policy: What happened to millions of Americans kicked out of Medicaid last year? A survey conducted for state officials in Utah, obtained by 麻豆女优 Health News, holds some clues. Like many states, Utah terminated Medicaid coverage for a large share of enrollees whose eligibility was reevaluated in […]
What a Bison Goring Can Teach Us About Rural Emergency Care
Millions of Americans live in 鈥渁mbulance deserts鈥 鈥 areas that are more than a 25-minute drive to the nearest emergency medical services (EMS) station. The most rural areas can be more than an hour away from help. These sparsely populated communities can have trouble sustaining ambulance services, if small patient volumes and low reimbursements […]
The Market for Biosimilars Is Funky. The Industry Thinks PBMs Are To Blame
Over the past year there鈥檚 been movement to rein in the three big PBMs, which face little regulation though they help set drug prices and drug choices for 80 percent of Americans and their doctors. The House voted Dec. 11, 320-71, for legislation that would require the PBMs to change some of the ways they […]
Millions of Dollars Flow From Pharma to Patient Advocacy Groups
Pharma money is all over the place 鈥 in universities, companies doing continuing medical education for doctors and in prominent patient advocacy organizations that are household names across America. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy nonprofit, reports today that between 2010 and 2022, the drug industry鈥檚 main lobbying group and member companies provided at least $6 […]
Republicans Once Championed Public Health. What Happened?
It wasn鈥檛 that long ago that Republicans were all-in on boosting public health spending. 鈥淭he highest investment priority in Washington should be to double the federal budget for scientific research,鈥 former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) wrote in a 1999 op-ed in The Washington Post. Big spending increases for the National Institutes of Health soon […]
Gun Violence Is a Plague. Could Medicaid Help?
To tackle America鈥檚 gun problem, a growing number of states are allowing Medicaid dollars to fund community-based violence programs intended to stop shootings. The idea is to boost resources for violence prevention programs, which have been overwhelmed in some cities by a spike in violent crime since the covid-19 pandemic. An infusion of reliable funding, […]
Colorado Says Drug Industry Blocked Its Canada Dreams 鈥 And Biden Hasn鈥檛 Helped
Colorado鈥檚 leaders had grand plans to import cheaper medicines from Canada, after the Trump administration issued rules in 2020 allowing states to try it. But officials in Denver say they鈥檝e been stymied by opposition from drugmakers 鈥 as well as the Biden administration鈥檚 inaction on the policy. That鈥檚 according to a Dec. 1 report we […]
Biden鈥檚 Got a New Set of Orders for Obamacare. Is It His Last?
The Biden administration has issued its latest official wish list for Obamacare insurance plans, potentially one of the last major Affordable Care Act health policy efforts in the president鈥檚 first term. Changes on tap for 2025? For one, the administration wants states that run their own ACA marketplaces to crack down on what鈥檚 called 鈥渘etwork […]
DeSantis, Newsom to Tangle Over Hot-Button Health Issues
Florida鈥檚 Republican presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis,and Democratic firebrand Gavin Newsom of California square off today in a contest of governors that can best be described as the debate to determine 驴qui茅n es m谩s macho? 鈥 who is more manly 鈥 about protecting your freedoms. Both men have led their respective states since 2019, and they鈥檝e […]
Hospitals and Doctors Are Fed up With Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage plans are pretty popular with both lawmakers and ordinary Americans 鈥 they now enroll about 31 million people, representing just over half of everyone in Medicare, by 麻豆女优鈥檚 count. But among doctors and hospitals, it鈥檚 a different story. Across the country, provider grumbling about claim denials and onerous preapproval requirements by Advantage plans […]
Medicaid鈥檚 鈥楿nwinding鈥 Can Be Especially Perilous for Disabled People
Earlier this year, Beverly Likens thought she鈥檇 done everything she needed to do to keep her Medicaid. Then came an unwelcome surprise: Ahead of surgery to treat chronic bleeding, the hospital said her insurance was inactive, jeopardizing her procedure. Likens had just been diagnosed with severe anemia and given a blood transfusion at the emergency room. 鈥淚 […]
