Medicare Could Save Billions By Scrapping Random Drug Plan Assignment
A new study finds that Medicare is spending billions of dollars more than it needs to on prescription drugs for low-income seniors and disabled beneficiaries. In 2013, an estimated 10 million people who participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, received government subsidies to help pay for that coverage. They account […]
Adult Foster Care Aid May Be At Risk, Advocates Say
Among those who are worried are agencies that provide adult foster care for people who can’t live on their own, because of severe mental illness or developmental disabilities.
How To Shop For Long-Term Care Insurance
One of the toughest money decisions Americans face as they age is whether to buy long-term care insurance.
‘National Dialogue’ Urged On Cost Of New Hepatitis C Drug
The outcry continues over the $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug made by California-based Gilead Sciences. While the drug is a significant advance over older treatments for the viral liver disease, the price set by the company “represents an abuse of market power,” said John Rother, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, which […]
Minnesota, Not Florida, Not Hawaii, Is Healthiest State For Seniors
“Minnesota Nice” might be the key to good health for seniors. America’s Health Rankings Senior Report rated Minnesota the healthiest state in the nation for adults aged 65 and over — beating out Hawaii. And that retiree and snowbird haven, Florida? It came in 28th. What could put Minnesota, which just weathered arguably the harshest winter […]
Some Colorado Doctors May Be Overcharging Medicare For Routine Visits
An analysis of newly available data may reveal fraud. But experts caution that the raw data alone could also make physicians who are doing nothing wrong look bad.
Should Medicare Pay The Same No Matter Where The Patient Gets Care?
That question was the focus of a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday, and it’s an important issue in the context of the debate over ending the Medicare SGR. Mary Agnes Carey and CQ HealthBeat’s John Reichard discuss.
California Doctors Among Those Charging Medicare The Most For Office Visits
Billing data show that some doctors charge the government much more than their peers in the same specialty by deeming almost all office visits “complex.”
Medicare May Be Overpaying Hospitals For Short-Stay Patients
A congressional panel has held its first hearing on a controversial rule that governs the admission status of Medicare patients.
Medicare Reverses Denial Of Costly Treatment For Hepatitis C Patient
Walter Bianco, an Arizona man denied access to new drugs to cure his hepatitis C infection, will get the costly medications after all. After Kaiser Health News and NPR described his plight in a story that aired Monday, federal Medicare officials said they would look into the case. Bianco’s appeal of an earlier denial had […]
Do Seniors Have Too Many Medicare Plans To Choose From?
Most seniors face a dizzying array of options each year when it comes time to choose a Medicare health or prescription drug plan. Beneficiaries can select from an average of 18 health plans and 31 prescription drug plans. In South Florida, they have 88 plan choices altogether. While choice may sound like a good thing, […]
Medicare Struggling With Hepatitis-C Cure Costs
Millions of baby boomers have hepatitis-C, and as they age into Medicare, the problem is how to pay for a $100,000+ treatment.
Hospitals Boost Patient Safety, But More Work Is Needed
Readmissions and patient injuries decrease as new government programs take effect.
Health Law Requires Medicare To Cover Dementia Evaluation
But an influential panel of experts says there isn’t enough evidence to recommend screening tests for the public.
Medicare Seeks To Stop Overpayments For Hospice Patients’ Drugs
Studies have found that the government often pays insurance plans and hospice organizations for the same prescriptions, so Medicare is directing insurers to confirm that prescriptions are not covered by hospice before paying for them.
Waiting And Waiting On The Nursing Home Inspector
Mary Chiu complained in 2011 that her elderly mother suffered terribly from poor care in a nursing home. Hers is among hundreds of cases that remain unresolved due to a backlog of investigations in Los Angeles County.
L.A. County Nursing Home Inspections Chief Reassigned
An audit that followed a KHN report revealed an alarming backlog of more than 3,000 open inspections at nursing homes. The supervisor in charge of the inspections has been replaced and moved to a ‘special assignment.’
Alzheimer’s Disease Support Model Could Save Minn. Millions
As states eye strategies to control the costs of caring for Alzheimer’s patients, a New York model is drawing interest, and findings from a study of Minnesota’s effort to replicate it shows it could lead to significant savings and improved services. The New York University Caregiver Intervention (NYUCI) program offers caregivers six sessions of individual […]
Medicare Records Provide Tantalizing New Details Of Payments To Doctors
But physicians and database experts caution that the information can be easily misconstrued or misunderstood.
Obama Administration Retreats On Private Medicare Rate Cuts
But insurers still contest the claim that rates will rise slightly after arriving at their own calculations of the originally proposed cuts.
