WEDNESDAY, Jan. 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) — With a sweep of the pen, President Donald Trump has ended a Biden administration effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid. Trump’s order, signed shortly after his inauguration on Monday, targets policies his administrations calls “deeplyContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Medicare will soon negotiate prices for 15 more drugs as part of an effort to reduce costs for seniors and people with disabilities, federal health officials announced in a news release. The negotiations, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, will cover widelyContinue Reading
TUESDAY, Jan. 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Medicare Advantage isn’t that great an advantage for seniors compared with traditional Medicare, researchers say. The privatized form of Medicare offers more supplemental benefits than traditional Medicare, including dental, vision and hearing benefits. But many seniors aren’t using those additional benefits, and theirContinue Reading
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MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2025 (HealthDay news) — Low-income single mothers appear to be using welfare as a form of paid family leave following childbirth. Most women who enter the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program after childbirth are in the program for less than a year, researchers reported inContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Folks need to act now if they want health insurance coverage starting Jan. 1 through an Affordable Care Act marketplace, officials and experts say. Wednesday is the last day folks can enroll in coverage that commences at the top of the year, accordingContinue Reading
FRIDAY, Dec. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — After facing weeks of pushback, health insurer Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said Thursday it will not go ahead with a policy change that would have limited reimbursements for anesthesia during medical procedures. If the proposed policy had taken effect, it would haveContinue Reading
THURSDAY, Dec. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The advent of GLP-1 weight-loss medications such as Wegovy and Zepbound has spurred debate as to whether the drugs’ cost should be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. Late last month, the Biden administration proposed that the drugs be covered by MedicareContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — American seniors still pay more for health care than their counterparts in most other wealthy countries do, despite coverage by Medicare, a new study finds. They are also more likely to postpone or skip needed care because of cost concerns. “In the U.S.,Continue Reading
TUESDAY, Nov. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The outgoing Biden administration will propose that pricey GLP-1 obesity medications such as semaglutide (Wegovy), and tirzepatide (Zepbound) be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. However, the move would have to be approved by the new Trump administration. Right now, a law passed byContinue Reading
THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) — U.S. health care costs are among the world’s highest, and 1 in 4 adults with health coverage struggle with high out-of-pocket costs, a new survey shows. The survey — by the Commonwealth Fund, a health-care focused think tank — finds that most peopleContinue Reading
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) — If Congress lets healthcare tax credits established during the pandemic expire, 4 million Americans will become uninsured, a new analysis warns. The tax credits, which have significantly lowered out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans, are set to expire at the end of 2025.Continue Reading
TUESDAY, Nov. 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will pick celebrity physician and former TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees both health insurance programs. More than 150 million Americans now receive health care coverage fromContinue Reading
FRIDAY, Nov. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Having a child can cause significant and ongoing financial hardship for new parents, even if they are covered by health insurance, a new study shows. More than half of people with private insurance spent more than $1,000 out of pocket on childbirth, andContinue Reading
TUESDAY, Nov. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Poorer folks’ access to blockbuster weight-loss drugs through Medicaid remains limited, a new KFF analysis has found. Only 13 states currently allow Medicaid to cover treatment of obesity using glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) medications, researchers discovered. Under the Medicaid system, individual states areContinue Reading