Latest California Healthline Stories
No Gaps In Understanding: Here’s Your Primer On Medigap Coverage
Seniors often don’t realize that private insurers are required to offer Medigap policies, or supplemental insurance, only when people first sign up for Medicare.
Tennessee-Based Pain Management Group To Close Clinics Amid Financial Turmoil
The CEO of Comprehensive Pain Specialists was indicted in April. Now the group is closing clinics across several states.
New Hospital Leader Fights Price Controls Despite Reputation As A Reformer
Carmela Coyle was known as an innovator when she led Maryland’s hospital association and supported a groundbreaking program that capped hospital revenue. But less than a year into her new job representing California’s hospitals in Sacramento, Coyle has already helped kill a proposal to regulate pricing.
Medicare Takes Aim At Boomerang Hospitalizations Of Nursing Home Patients
Nationally, one in five Medicare patients who leave the hospital for a nursing home end up back in the hospital. In California, one-fifth of the more than 1,200 nursing homes send at least 24 percent of their Medicare patients back to the hospital. To discourage this trend, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will soon give bonuses and penalties to facilities based on their rehospitalization rates.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Health Care Politics, Midterm Edition
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call discuss how Medicare, Medicaid and the fate of the Affordable Care Act are playing out in the politics of the coming midterm elections. Plus, Rovner interviews Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans.
Medicare Financial Outlook Worsens
The Medicare board of trustees said the program’s hospital insurance trust fund could run out of money by 2026, three years earlier than previously forecast.
A Hospital ER Charges An ‘After-Hours’ Fee. Who Has To Pay It?
Tacking on an after-hours surcharge to an emergency department bill strikes some consumers as unfair, since the facilities are open 24 hours a day.
Medicamentos de Medicare pueden costar menos pagando en efectivo
Beneficiarios de Medicare pueden conseguir medicamentos más baratos si pagan en efectivo… pero por reglas mordaza el farmacéutico no puede decirlo.
Looking For Lower Medicare Drug Costs? Ask Your Pharmacist For The Cash Price.
Sometimes a drug plan’s copayment is higher than the cash price, and under a little-known federal rule, pharmacists have to tell Medicare beneficiaries that — but only if they ask.
Pfizer Settles Kickback Case Related To Copay Assistance For $24M
The drugmaker agreed to a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations that it funneled copay assistance money through a foundation to Medicare patients.