Medicare’s Paying Less for Cataract Surgery. Eye Doctors Are Turning to Lucrative Lasers.
More cataract patients, wanting not only restored but improved vision, are paying extra for their doctors to use a laser when a scalpel would do.
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More cataract patients, wanting not only restored but improved vision, are paying extra for their doctors to use a laser when a scalpel would do.
Coverage for hundreds of thousands of Arkansas Medicaid enrollees next year is in question after the Trump administration refused to renew a key state waiver. The state might not be the last to have to adjust to an arcane rule change under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
They’re known for touting pandemic precautions, Affordable Care Act plans, and testing for lead in schools. This year, some former public health officials are touting themselves — for governor or senator.
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“Government has to intervene, because healthcare is run like an unregulated utility,” Indiana’s GOP governor says of the state’s effort to regulate hospital prices.
On May 1, the state will become the first to require people on the government health program to fulfill a work requirement or lose their coverage under a new rule that was a key part of congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
About 17,000 federally funded health clinics stand to collectively lose $32 billion under GOP-backed fiscal policies in the next five years — just as more uninsured patients will rely on them for low-cost care.
Federal health officials have ordered states to reverify the immigration status of hundreds of thousands of Medicaid enrollees. After seven months, findings from five states show the reviews have uncovered few immigrants without legal status who are improperly receiving benefits.
More than three dozen states cover dental services for low-income and disabled individuals on Medicaid, in recognition of such care’s importance to overall health. But with about $900 billion in funding cuts expected to hit states over the next decade, many programs could roll back dental coverage.
The Trump administration’s move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is forcing hospitals and states to consider alerting immigrant patients that information from emergency medical coverage applications could be used in efforts to remove them from the country.
The government is using sickle cell treatments to test a new strategy: paying only if the therapies benefit patients. With more expensive treatments on the horizon, the program — created by the Biden administration and continued under President Trump — could help Medicaid save money and treat more patients.
Average premium payments in the federal government’s insurance program for its employees are set to jump more than 12% next year, on top of a 13.5% hike in 2025. The two-year increase is higher than many private employers and their workers are experiencing.
Federal health authorities have taken the "unprecedented" step of instructing states to investigate certain individuals on Medicaid to determine whether they are ineligible because of their immigration status, with five states reporting they’ve received more than 170,000 names collectively.
KFF data shows that 2025 marked the first time in two decades that the annual cost of covering a family of four rose by 6% or more for three consecutive years.
In Mississippi, a state with one of the highest obesity rates in the nation, Medicaid covers weight loss drugs, but few enrollees have signed up for the benefit.
Under a new law, many Americans will have to meet a work requirement to obtain and keep their Medicaid coverage. But due to an exemption, millions living in areas of high unemployment could be spared.
The GOP said its overhaul of Medicaid was aimed at reducing fraud and getting more adult beneficiaries to work. Among the likely side effects: fewer services and doctors for treating sick children.
The health industry couldn’t persuade GOP lawmakers to oppose big Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill for many reasons. A big one: Congressional Republicans were more worried about angering Trump than a backlash from hospitals and low-income constituents back home.
In 2017, when President Donald Trump tried to repeal Obamacare and roll back Medicaid coverage, Republican governors helped turn Congress against it. Now, as Trump tries again to scale back Medicaid, Republican governors — whose constituents stand to lose federal funding and health coverage — have gone quiet on the health consequences.
Spending cuts hitting medical providers, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act enrollees, and lawfully present immigrants are just some of the biggest changes the GOP has in store for health care — with ramifications that could touch all Americans.
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