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A view from the field: How Medicare is playing in congressional, Senate races

From Texas to Connecticut, members of Congress and their challengers are pressing their views on the federal health program for seniors.

17 Aug 2012

Congressional leaders plan to make the most of this election-year Medicare debate

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, urged his fellow Republicans to "play offense" on the issue while their Democratic counterparts plan to keep the heat on.

17 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Public seeks better campaigns but politicians use 'schoolyard rules;' GOP's Medicare 'flip-flops'

Political ads often stretch facts to the breaking point, but the people who create them usually feel constrained to back up their claims by citing sources - at least enough to keep neutral fact-checkers from exposing their work as fiction. Not so in this year's presidential campaign. There's no nice way to say this: President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are both condoning deliberate falsehoods.

17 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 16, 2012

In this Kaiser Health News video, Insuring Your Health columnist Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about what you can do when insurance only covers a portion of an ambulance bill.

16 Aug 2012

Medicare politics by the numbers?

The budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., assumed the same amount of Medicare savings as President Obama's health care law. News outlets report that both presidential campaigns are accusing the other of undermining the insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and attempt to separate fact from fiction.

16 Aug 2012

Florida is ground zero in battle for seniors' votes

Florida's 29 electoral votes appear to be among the most sought-after prizes as both campaigns craft their Medicare messages to woo the state's older voters.

16 Aug 2012

Medicare debate reverberates in House and Senate races

The New York Times reports that with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to be his running mate, the fight to control Congress may face a new twist.

16 Aug 2012

Obama team sees opportunity in Ryan's record on abortion

News outlets report that the policy positions taken on abortion and contraception issues by Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate pick, could widen the so-called gender gap.

16 Aug 2012

Poor families fear they are forgotten in Medicaid expansion debate

The Associated Press looks at the dilemma for many poor people who had expected to get health coverage under the 2010 federal law.

16 Aug 2012

Obama, Romney campaigns jockey for voter support in Medicare debate

Medicare clearly is a flashpoint in the presidential contest as both sides make claims and point fingers at the other.

16 Aug 2012

Gates looks to develop 'next-generation toilets' for developing world

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday "announced the winners of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge -- an effort to develop 'next-generation' toilets that will deliver safe and sustainable sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don't have it," according to a foundation press release.

16 Aug 2012

It's not just Medicare: Ryan's Medicaid proposals emerge as campaign issue

News outlets report that the changes to Medicaid proposed by likely GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan would have immediate and far-reaching consequences for millions of people, including poor seniors.

16 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney needs to explain his Medicare plan; Ryan plan would end Medicaid protections for spouses of nursing home patients'

Mr. Ryan's Path To Prosperity blueprint includes more than $700 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade. Medicare would no longer function as an insurance program that directly pays medical bills for seniors. Instead, seniors would receive a fixed subsidy. The value of that subsidy almost certainly wouldn't keep up with health care costs, meaning seniors would pay more out of pocket. That might not play well in Boca Raton. Of course, Mr. Ryan's just the prospective V.P. What does the top of the ticket think?

16 Aug 2012

How team Romney-Ryan is playing on the campaign trail

The Medicare plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has been tapped by GOP presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney to be his running mate, almost immediately emerged as a campaign flashpoint.

15 Aug 2012

North Dakota State University student runs 400 miles to raise $10,000 for AARDA

North Dakota State University student, Ben Clark, is currently trekking 400 miles in an effort to raise $10,000 for the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA).

15 Aug 2012

Obama administration urges states to move forward on health exchanges

Administration officials will "try to encourage reluctant states" to move forward with health exchanges, even as time appears to be running out, Reuters reports. Also in the news, consumer representatives from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners offered state and federal officials suggestions about how they should write regulations to implement the health law's key consumer protections.

15 Aug 2012

Democrats hammer GOP candidates over Ryan's plan to overhaul Medicare

Democrats running for seats in the House and Senate are spotlighting Republican plans to refashion the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

15 Aug 2012

Under the microscope: Ryan's plans for Medicare, Medicaid and the federal budget

News outlets examine how Medicare and Medicaid fare in the budget blueprint advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick.

15 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney's gamble; The return of 'Mediscare;' Klein and Roy offer competing views on differences in Ryan, Obama plans

It doesn't take a political genius to see where the contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney is heading. With Rep. Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket, the campaign is looking at a full-throated debate over the future of Medicare. Are Romney and Ryan ready?

15 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 15, 2012

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's choice of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as his running mate has brought renewed focus on Ryan's proposal to overhaul Medicare. But how would Ryan's plan to reduce federal spending, which has been approved twice by the GOP-controlled House, change Medicaid?"

15 Aug 2012