Health Care

Shocking Health Care Statistic of the Day

By Michael Rainey

Consumer health insurance costs are up more than 20% year over year, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index data released Wednesday. Medical care costs overall have risen 4.2% from...
Ready to Rumble: How Pelosi’s Drug Bill Sets Up Dems for 2020

By Michael Rainey

After making a deal with liberal Democrats Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to have cleared the way for a vote this week on a sweeping bill that would empower Medicare to negotiate drug...
Congress Really Wants to Get Something Done on Drug Prices. It May Fail Anyway

By Yuval Rosenberg

Lawmakers are eager to show they can deliver on the issues the American public cares most about, so even as House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday,...
Surprise Deal to Protect Patients From Surprise Medical Bills

By Michael Rainey

After struggling for months to reach consensus, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers announced Sunday evening they had come to an agreement on legislation that would protect patients from...
Obamacare Back at the Supreme Court — With Billions for Insurers on the Line

By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

More than $12 billion is at stake for the nation’s health insurers Tuesday when the Supreme Court hears another Affordable Care Act case. For the federal government, the potential damages could be...

The Rising Tide of Health Care Costs

By The Fiscal Times Staff

We told you yesterday about new data from the Medicare actuaries showing health care spending in the U.S. hitting a record high last year, totaling $3.65 trillion overall, or more than $11,000 per...
The Healthiest — and Unhealthiest — US States

By Yuval Rosenberg

Vermont is the healthiest state in the U.S., according to the latest annual ranking by the United Health Foundation. Vermont climbed three spots, thanks in part to “a low incidence of chlamydia, a...
Health Spending Hits Record High, Even With 1 Million Fewer Insured

By Yuval Rosenberg

U.S. spending on health care grew to $3.65 trillion last year, climbing above $11,000 per person for the first time, according to a new report from Medicare actuaries. Spending rose 4.6% in 2018,...
A White House Report Slams Pelosi’s Drug Plan. Experts Call Its Claims ‘Nonsense’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The White House Council of Economic Advisers issued a report Tuesday warning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill to lower prescription drug prices would have devastating health and economic costs...
How a Public Option Would Affect the Insurance Market

By Michael Rainey

Several Democratic presidential candidates say a public option for health insurance would provide a more moderate, less disruptive alternative to the Medicare for All plan backed by Senators Bernie...

Pete Buttigieg Unveils Plan to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

By Yuval Rosenberg

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday rolled out a sweeping plan intended to lower prescription drug prices. Here are some key elements of the plan: Negotiating drug prices: Like...
1 in 4 Dollars in US Health Care Is Wasted: Analysis

By Michael Rainey

A new analysis published Monday in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association finds that about 25% of all U.S. health care spending goes to waste. The authors, Drs. William H. Shrank,...
Four Takeaways on Trump’s New Medicare Executive Order

By Yuval Rosenberg

In signing an executive order on Medicare Thursday, President Trump sought to portray himself as a protector of the health-care program for seniors. Trump’s order , which the administration said was...
Walmart to Give Workers Financial Incentives to Use Higher-Quality Doctors

By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

Worried its employees aren’t getting good enough care from doctors in their insurance networks, Walmart next year will test pointing workers in northwestern Arkansas, central Florida and the Dallas-...
Trump Blasts Democrats on ‘Socialist’ Medicare for All

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to expand private Medicare Advantage plans, bashing Democratic proposals for a government-run Medicare-for-All system as socialism and...