Latest Daily Edition Stories
With Medicare Enrollment Season Here, Officials Warn Seniors To Look Out For Scams
There are a number of events and resources to help participants.
When Medicare Enrollment Window Opens, Seniors Should At Least Take Look At Options, Experts Say
Many who are already enrolled in a plan they like simply let Medicare’s open enrollment window close without taking any action.
Trump Poised To End Contraception Requirement For Employee Health Benefits
President Donald Trump is expected to issue a regulation allowing employers with religious objections to omit coverage for contraception from their workers’ insurance plans. In other Trump administration news: the Department of Health and Human Services names 14 people to its mental health panel; the cancellation of several payment reforms is complicating efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to promote value-based care; and the National Parks Service lifts a ban on selling plastic water bottles in the parks.
Health Of Medicare Trust Fund Improves, Staving Off Need For Dreaded ‘Death Panels’
The board reports that it will be depleted in 2029, a year later than the Obama administration had last projected. The estimate helped avoid activating the Independent Payment Advisory Board.
Medicare Beneficiaries In Observation Care May Face Surprise Hospital, Nursing Home Bills
A Modesto Bee article examines the costs for one woman. Also, a look at problems with a Medicare program designed to help poorly performing nursing homes.
During Its Move To Electronic Records, Medicare Erroneously Paid $729M To Health Professionals
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should review its incentive payments, recoup any money erroneously paid and do more to scrutinize spending, the inspector general audit recommended.
Expensive Specialty Drugs Help Triple Medicare Spending For Some Patients
Federal spending for Medicare Part D catastrophic coverage spiked to $33 billion in 2015, a government report shows.
Hospitals’ Safety Measure Improvements Prevent 125,000 Deaths, Save $28M
A Department of Health and Human Services report finds that those patient safety efforts also prevented 3.1 million hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2015. In other news, Sutter Medical opens a new urgent care clinic in Folsom.
Democrats Vow To Fight GOP On Medicare: ‘We Will Win. You Will Lose.’
Republicans have been floating the idea to overhaul Medicare, while Democrats vow to defend it.
GOP’s ‘Repeal And Delay’ Strategy Threatens To Send Already-Teetering Market Into Chaos
“Insurers need to know the rules of the road in order to develop plans and set premiums,” says Sabrina Corlette, a professor at the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University.
