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...

Medicaid Work Requirements Dealt a Loss in Elections

By Michael Rainey

The effort to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries experienced a setback Tuesday with the apparent defeat of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. Bevin, a Republican, hasn’t conceded defeat in his...
Medical Costs Stress Even Those on Medicare

By Michael Rainey

More than half of all seriously ill people on Medicare face financial hardships related to their illness, according to a new study in the journal Health Affairs. A survey found that 53% of seriously...
Wealthy Could See a Huge Tax Windfall if Obamacare Is Overturned

By Michael Rainey

The lawsuit by 18 state attorneys general seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act would provide an enormous tax cut for wealthy households if it succeeds, according to an analysis by the Center...
Trump White House Rejects Pelosi Drug Plan as ‘Unworkable’: Report

By Yuval Rosenberg

The White House on Tuesday rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to lower prescription drug prices, with an unnamed senior White House official telling the Associated Press that the plan is “...
4 Big Questions About Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare-for-All Plan

By Yuval Rosenberg

Elizabeth Warren’s new Medicare-for-All plan has won the candidate some praise for providing more detail than Bernie Sanders or other Democratic presidential rivals have. But it has also raised...