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Despite restraints, democrats’ drug pricing plan could still aid consumers

The Medicare prescription drug pricing plan Democrats unveiled this week is not nearly as ambitious as many lawmakers sought, but they and drug policy experts say the provisions crack open the door to reforms that could have dramatic effects.

5 Nov 2021

Democrats plan to expand Medicare hearing benefits. What can consumers expect?

President Joe Biden's mammoth domestic spending bill would add hearing benefits to the traditional Medicare program — one of three major new benefits Democrats had sought.

5 Nov 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Compromise is coming — maybe

Democrats on Capitol Hill hope they are nearing the finish line in their months-long quest to enact President Joe Biden's social spending agenda.

4 Nov 2021

Few acute care hospitals escaped readmissions penalties

Preventable rehospitalization of the nation's older adults has proved a persistent health and financial challenge for the U.S., costing Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

4 Nov 2021

The Connection between High-sensitivity Troponin and Heart Attacks

This interview outlines the connection between high-sensitivity troponin and heart attacks.

From Siemens Healthineers 1 Nov 2021

If Congress adds dental coverage to Medicare, should all seniors get it?

William Stork needs a tooth out. That's what the 71-year-old retired truck driver's dentist told him during a recent checkup.

29 Oct 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden social-spending ‘framework’ pulls back on key health pledges

President Joe Biden unveiled a purported compromise on his social-spending plan shortly before taking off for a series of meetings in Europe.

28 Oct 2021

Medicare punishes 2,499 hospitals for high readmissions

The federal government's effort to penalize hospitals for excessive patient readmissions is ending its first decade with Medicare cutting payments to nearly half the nation's hospitals.

28 Oct 2021

Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare benefits put pinch on advantage plans’ funding

"Did you think we wouldn't notice?" an older woman says, speaking into the camera. "You thought you could sneak this through?" an older man later adds. Others warn that Washington is "messing with" their Medicare Advantage health coverage and trying to raise their premiums.

28 Oct 2021

Medicare plans’ ‘free’ dental, vision, hearing benefits come at a cost

When Teresa Nolan Barensfeld turned 65 last year, she quickly decided on a private Medicare Advantage plan to cover her health expenses.

27 Oct 2021

Pharma campaign cash delivered to key lawmakers with surgical precision

The Biden administration and Congress are embroiled in high-stakes haggling over what urgent priorities will make it into the ever-shrinking social spending bill.

27 Oct 2021

How billing turns a routine birth into a high-cost emergency

Caitlin Wells Salerno knew that some mammals — like the golden-mantled ground squirrels she studies in the Rocky Mountains — invest an insane amount of resources in their young. That didn't prepare her for the resources the conservation biologist would owe after the birth of her second son.

27 Oct 2021

Analysis: A procedure that cost $1,775 in New York was $350 in Maryland. Here’s why.

For the past 18 months, while I was undergoing intensive physical therapy and many neurological tests after a complicated head injury, my friends would point to a silver lining: "Now you'll be able to write about your own bills." After all, I'd spent the past decade as a journalist covering the often-bankrupting cost of U.S. medical care.

26 Oct 2021

Direct primary care, with a touch of Robin Hood

Britta Foster and Minerva Tiznado are in different leagues as far as health care is concerned.

26 Oct 2021

Watch: Going beyond the script of ‘Dopesick’ and America’s real-life opioid crisis

KHN and policy colleagues at our parent organization KFF teamed up with Hulu for a discussion of America’s opioid crisis, following the Oct. 13 premiere of the online streaming service's new series "Dopesick."

18 Oct 2021

What will it take to boost vaccinations? The scene from Kentucky’s back roads

In the end it was the delta variant that drove Rose Mitchell, 89, down the winding mountain road to the Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ to get the shot. Her pastor, Billy Joe Lewis, had told his congregation that, No, ma'am, a covid vaccine would not leave the "mark of the beast" nor rewrite their genetic codes.

18 Oct 2021

Policymakers may need to focus on increasing telehealth use by rural older adults, analysis suggests

About one in six doctor's office visits by older Americans no longer takes place in an actual doctor's office, but rather online or over the phone, a new analysis of telehealth visits billed to Medicare in the past two years finds.

15 Oct 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The politics of vaccine mandates

Should covid vaccines be mandated? The answer to that question has become predictably partisan, as with almost everything else associated with the pandemic.

14 Oct 2021

The public backs Medicare Rx price negotiation even after hearing both sides’ views

As Congress debates cutting prescription drug costs, a poll released Tuesday found the vast majority of adults — regardless of their political party or age — support letting the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and those in private health insurance plans.

12 Oct 2021

Long-term exposure to low concentrations of air pollution may cause many early deaths

Exposure to low concentrations of air pollution, even at levels permitted under federal regulations, may be causing tens of thousands of early deaths each year among elderly people and other vulnerable groups in the U.S., according to a large national study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

7 Oct 2021

Medicare News and Research

Despite restraints, democrats’ drug pricing plan could still aid consumers

Democrats plan to expand Medicare hearing benefits. What can consumers expect?

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Compromise is coming — maybe

Few acute care hospitals escaped readmissions penalties

The Connection between High-sensitivity Troponin and Heart Attacks

If Congress adds dental coverage to Medicare, should all seniors get it?

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden social-spending ‘framework’ pulls back on key health pledges

Medicare punishes 2,499 hospitals for high readmissions

Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare benefits put pinch on advantage plans’ funding

Medicare plans’ ‘free’ dental, vision, hearing benefits come at a cost

Pharma campaign cash delivered to key lawmakers with surgical precision

How billing turns a routine birth into a high-cost emergency

Analysis: A procedure that cost $1,775 in New York was $350 in Maryland. Here’s why.

Direct primary care, with a touch of Robin Hood

Watch: Going beyond the script of ‘Dopesick’ and America’s real-life opioid crisis

What will it take to boost vaccinations? The scene from Kentucky’s back roads

Policymakers may need to focus on increasing telehealth use by rural older adults, analysis suggests

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The politics of vaccine mandates

The public backs Medicare Rx price negotiation even after hearing both sides’ views

Long-term exposure to low concentrations of air pollution may cause many early deaths

Industry Focus eBook - Forensics & toxicology (2nd edition) eBook

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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