Medicare’s Financial Outlook Slightly Improved, Trustees Say
The assessment pushes back the date for the hospital insurance trust fund to go bankrupt by one year. It also says Part B premiums next year will be stable.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
Senate Health Bill Still Short On ‘Yays’ But Leaders Vow Vote Next Week
At least two Republicans have already said they cannot support the new legislative draft, which means all other GOP senators would have to agree to the bill to pass it.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
Transgender Health Care Targeted In Crusade To Undo ACA
HHS Secretary Tom Price and President Donald Trump have vowed to use administrative powers to mitigate the health law rules that created “burdens” or that don’t match up with their agenda.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
Senate Revises Health Care Legislation: Read The New Bill
The Senate releases an updated draft of its health care legislation. Read the bill and compare with the original.
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California Sued For Allegedly Substandard Medi-Cal Care
The lawsuit is a civil rights case on behalf of Latinos, who comprise nearly half of the program’s enrollees. But the advocates who filed it also hope to get class action certification for all Medi-Cal enrollees.
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In Texas, People With Mental Illness Find Work Helping Peers
Peer support, well-known in addiction treatment, is gaining ground for people with serious mental illness. Texas and 35 other states are training and paying peer support specialists to help bridge a gap in mental health treatment.
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Nursing Homes Move Into The Insurance Business
Although proponents say the policies offered by nursing homes are more attuned to patients, some report frustrations when trying to dispute care decisions.
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Senators Grill Top Indian Health Officials About Trump Budget
The administration officials could not answer some basic questions from senators, including how much money the agency has gained from the health law’s Medicaid expansion and whether President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget would help the agency hire more staff.
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DNA Links Deadly Germs, Tainted Heart Surgery Devices To German Factory
LivaNova plant in Germany is the likely source behind outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people since 2013.
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REPEAL & REPLACE WATCH
Whichever Way ‘Repeal And Replace’ Blows, Pharma Is Due For Windfall
A little-noticed provision in President Donald Trump’s executive order on drug prices may offer a clue to why Big Pharma hasn’t opposed a bill that could bleed their balance sheets of millions of patients.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
GOP Health Bill Eases Rules For Some Small-Business Plans
Congressional Republicans are keen to loosen restrictions set by the federal health law on insurance sold by associations that small employers join.
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Double-Booked: When Surgeons Operate On Two Patients At Once
Simultaneous surgeries have ignited an impassioned debate in the medical community.
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Women With High-Risk Pregnancies Far More Prone To Heart Disease
Mothers who develop diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy, or whose babies are born prematurely or precariously small, often are unaware of the long-term risk. So are their doctors.
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The Union That Roars: Nurses Aren’t Giving Up On California’s Single-Payer Push
The California Nurses Association, representing some 100,000 registered nurses, is regarded statewide and nationally as a progressive political powerhouse. “Politicians are afraid” of the activists they turn out, said one critic.
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REPEAL & REPLACE WATCH
Crippling Medicaid Cuts Could Upend Rural Health Services
Patient advocates say that the Senate Republicans’ proposal to change federal funding for Medicaid could lead to more shutdowns of rural facilities, reduced payments to doctors and fewer programs for people with health needs or disabilities.
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Your Credit Score Soon Will Get A Buffer From Medical-Debt Wrecks
Starting in September, the three main agencies will wait 180 days before including a medical debt on a credit report.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
Millions Of Kids Fall Outside Senate Plan To Shield Disabled From Medicaid Cuts
The Republican plan to replace Obamacare would reduce federal funding for Medicaid, but senators want to keep current funding levels for children who are blind or have other disabilities. Their proposal, however, would not apply to the majority of those kids.
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Repeal & Replace Watch
Medicaid Cuts Will Drive Up Cost Of Private Coverage, Montana Insurers Say
Insurance executives in Montana are worried that GOP efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act could destabilize a market that is working well.
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REPEAL & REPLACE WATCH
Senate GOP Bill Aims To Add Psych Beds; Squeeze On Medicaid Signals Their Undoing
The Senate health care bill has a provision to increase hospital beds for psychiatric care, but overall cuts in Medicaid could lead to even fewer beds nationwide.
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Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Built Name Fighting HIV And Opioids In Indiana
Dr. Jerome Adams is the health commissioner in Indiana, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence.
