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When rogue brokers switch people’s ACA policies, tax surprises can follow

Tax season is never fun. But some tax filers this year face an added complication: Their returns are being rejected because they failed to provide information about Affordable Care Act coverage they didn't even know they had.

15 Apr 2024

Nearly 1 in 4 adults dumped from Medicaid are now uninsured, survey finds

Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid in the past year say they are now uninsured, according to a survey released Friday that details how tens of millions of Americans struggled to retain coverage in the government insurance program for low-income people after pandemic-era protections began expiring last spring.

12 Apr 2024

Quality dementia care in nursing homes: Lessons from the pandemic

No one associated with nursing homes – as residents or their families, friends, staff or administrators – is unaware of the massive impact of the pandemic on these facilities which provide essential services to a growing number of older adults, many living with cognitive impairment.

12 Apr 2024

Study provides reassurance regarding the safety of using hormone therapy after age 65 years

After the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002, many women have resisted taking hormone therapy (HT), especially after age 65 years, because of fears of increased risks for various cancers and heart disease.

10 Apr 2024

Congress likely to kick the can on covid-era telehealth policies

Nearly two hours into a Capitol Hill hearing focused on rural health, Rep. Brad Wenstrup emphatically told the committee's five witnesses: "Hang with us."

10 Apr 2024

An Arm and a Leg: Attack of the Medicare machines

Covering the American health care system means we tell some scary stories. This episode of "An Arm and a Leg" sounds like a real horror movie.

10 Apr 2024

Researchers leverage machine-learning techniques to predict future risk of pressure injuries

Bedsores - also known as pressure injuries - are the fastest rising hospital-acquired condition, according to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research in Quality, and as a result have become the second most common reason for medical malpractice suits in the United States.

9 Apr 2024

After public push, CMS curbs health insurance agents’ access to consumer SSNs

Until last week, the system that is used to enroll people in federal Affordable Care Act insurance plans inadvertently allowed access by insurance brokers to consumers' full Social Security numbers, information brokers don't need.

9 Apr 2024

Rising complaints of unauthorized Obamacare plan-switching and sign-ups trigger concern

Federal and state regulators aren't doing enough to stop the growing problem of rogue health insurance brokers making unauthorized policy switches for Affordable Care Act policyholders, say consumers.

8 Apr 2024

Biden is right about $35 insulin cap but exaggerates prior costs for Medicare enrollees

The cost of insulin in the United States has risen considerably in recent years, with some estimates finding that Americans have paid around 10 times as much for the drug as people in other developed countries.

5 Apr 2024

BMI influences efficacy of nerve-stimulation treatment for sleep apnea, study finds

A nerve-stimulation treatment for obstructive sleep apnea that originally was approved only for people with body mass indexes (BMIs) in the healthy range recently was extended to patients with BMIs up to 40, a weight range generally described as severely obese.

4 Apr 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Florida limits abortion — for now

Florida this week became a major focus for advocates on both main sides of the abortion debate.

4 Apr 2024

For-profit companies open psychiatric hospitals in areas clamoring for care

A for-profit company has proposed turning a boarded-up former nursing home here into a psychiatric hospital, joining a national trend toward having such hospitals owned by investors instead of by state governments or nonprofit health systems.

1 Apr 2024

Hospitals cash in on a private equity-backed trend: Concierge physician care

Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000 or more for easier access to their doctors.

1 Apr 2024

Prescribing AUD medication at hospital discharge lowers risk of readmission

For adults hospitalized for alcohol-related reasons, receiving a prescription for an alcohol use disorder (AUD) medication at the time of discharge may lower their risk of return to hospital within 30 days of discharge, including emergency room visits and readmissions.

29 Mar 2024

Your doctor or your insurer? Little-known rules may ease the choice in Medicare Advantage

Bart Klion, 95, and his wife, Barbara, faced a tough choice in January: The upstate New York couple learned that this year they could keep either their private, Medicare Advantage insurance plan — or their doctors at Saratoga Hospital.

29 Mar 2024

Study shows the enduring impact of historical redlining on colon cancer care

A nationwide study of 196 cities shows that housing discrimination from 90 years ago still casts a historical shadow of inequities in colon cancer care today, S.M. Qasim Hussaini, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues at the American Cancer Society and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health report in the journal JCO Oncology Practice.

28 Mar 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the abortion pill

In its first abortion case since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Supreme Court this week looked unlikely to uphold an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone.

28 Mar 2024

Accredited hospitals demonstrate better outcomes for patients undergoing rectal cancer surgery

Hospitals accredited by the American College of Surgeons National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer demonstrate significantly better outcomes for patients undergoing rectal cancer surgery compared to non-accredited hospitals, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

28 Mar 2024

As AI eye exams prove their worth, lessons for future tech emerge

Christian Espinoza, director of a Southern California drug-treatment provider, recently began employing a powerful new assistant: an artificial intelligence algorithm that can perform eye exams with pictures taken by a retinal camera. It makes quick diagnoses, without a doctor present.

27 Mar 2024

Medicare News and Research

When rogue brokers switch people’s ACA policies, tax surprises can follow

Nearly 1 in 4 adults dumped from Medicaid are now uninsured, survey finds

Quality dementia care in nursing homes: Lessons from the pandemic

Study provides reassurance regarding the safety of using hormone therapy after age 65 years

Congress likely to kick the can on covid-era telehealth policies

An Arm and a Leg: Attack of the Medicare machines

Researchers leverage machine-learning techniques to predict future risk of pressure injuries

After public push, CMS curbs health insurance agents’ access to consumer SSNs

Rising complaints of unauthorized Obamacare plan-switching and sign-ups trigger concern

Biden is right about $35 insulin cap but exaggerates prior costs for Medicare enrollees

BMI influences efficacy of nerve-stimulation treatment for sleep apnea, study finds

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Florida limits abortion — for now

For-profit companies open psychiatric hospitals in areas clamoring for care

Hospitals cash in on a private equity-backed trend: Concierge physician care

Prescribing AUD medication at hospital discharge lowers risk of readmission

Your doctor or your insurer? Little-known rules may ease the choice in Medicare Advantage

Study shows the enduring impact of historical redlining on colon cancer care

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the abortion pill

Accredited hospitals demonstrate better outcomes for patients undergoing rectal cancer surgery

As AI eye exams prove their worth, lessons for future tech emerge

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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