Health Insurance and Medicare News
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Choosing Generic Rx Drugs Could Save Medicare Billions
Wider use of prescription generic drugs could save Medicare nearly $2 billion a year, researchers say.
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Big Pay Gap For Independent Doctors vs Hospitals
The research, based on Medicare claims data from 2010-2016, found that the program’s payments for doctors’ work were, on average, $114,000 higher per doctor per year when billed by a hospital than when billed by a doctor’s independent practice.
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U.S. Drug Prices Much Higher Than in Other Nations
The gap between prices was even higher for brand-name drugs, with U.S. prices 3.44 times more than those in the other countries.
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What Does Hospital Price Transparency Mean for You?
Under a rule that kicked in Jan. 1, hospitals are required to make public the prices they negotiate with insurers. That’s a lot more information than was previously required, which was only the posting of “chargemasters” — the hospital-generated list prices that few consumers or health plans actually pay.
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Almost Half in U.S. Fear Surprise Medical Bills
Those fears aren't unfounded. Among those with private health insurance, 68% have received unexpected medical bills and 33% couldn't pay them on time, while 23% said they haven't paid them yet.
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Up Next for Obamacare: 1 of 4 Court Rulings Likely
Now that a Supreme Court’s hearing on a new lawsuit seeking to kill the Affordable Care Act is over, what’s next for the law? Court watchers say that pointed questions and comments about the suit from Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggest the court seems likely to issue a narrow ruling in the case.
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Justices Question Case to Overturn Affordable Care Act
Many of the US Supreme Court Justices raised questions about a lawsuit seeking to throw out the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during oral arguments on whether the law is unconstitutional.
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Biden Victory: What It Means for COVID, Health Care
he former vice president has sketched out a big health agenda: ramping up the federal response to COVID-19, boosting the Affordable Care Act, creating a new “public option” to cover uninsured Americans, and expanding Medicare and Medicaid. But the president-elect’s long to-do list on health is likely to face significant roadblocks in Congress and the courts, experts say.
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Trump, Biden Face Off in Chaotic First Debate
During the 90-minute debate, the candidates sparred over the COVID-19 response and the future of the Affordable Care Act.
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Closer Look: Trump, Biden Plans on Health Care
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have greatly different plans for improving Americans' health care and for tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
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Trump Picks Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court Justice
Amy Coney Barrett, 48, a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago since 2017, is President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court.
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Fewer American Families Weighed Down by Medical Bills
The percentage of families who had problems paying medical expenses in the previous year declined from about 20% in 2011 to 14% in 2018, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
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2 Million Lost Health Coverage, Access to Care
Two million more Americans didn't seek health care from late 2016 through 2017 because they couldn't afford it and/or lacked insurance, new research shows.
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More Patients Turning to 'Direct Primary Care'
DPC Frontier, which tracks the number of direct primary care practices nationally, estimates there are 1,219 practices in 48 states and Washington, D.C. They range in size from solo practitioners to corporate, multisite direct primary care organizations with thousands of doctors.
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Demand for Medical Cost Transparency Spurs Change
Nearly half of Americans (44%) said either they or a family member had received at least one surprise medical bill in the past, and most of them worried about how they would pay for it
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ACA Mandate Struck Down by Federal Appeals Court
Instead, the appeals court sent the case back to a federal district judge in Texas to "conduct a more searching inquiry" into which parts of the health law could survive without the insurance requirement.
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Medicare for All: FAQ
There's been a lot of debate and discussion about a health insurance plan known as Medicare for All. But what does that really mean?
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Many on Medicare Face Crippling Medical Bills
Even with Medicare coverage, older Americans with serious health conditions are often burdened by medical bills, a new study finds.
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Many Cancer Docs Don't Discuss Costs of Pricey Gene Tests
Genomic tests on cancer cells can help determine which types of treatment might work, and which ones might not. However, such testing can be expensive, and not all tests and related treatments are covered by health insurance, the researchers noted.
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Fewer Americans Have Health Insurance: Report
Meanwhile, about 27.5 million people (8.5% of the population) lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9% in 2017, which was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act took full effect in 2014.
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Administration Ends Migrant Medical Care Protection
An exemption that allows immigrants to remain in the United States and avoid deportation while they or family members receive life-saving care has been scrapped by the Trump administration.
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U.S. News Releases 2019-2020 Top Hospitals List
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, claimed the No. 1 spot in the annual honor roll of best hospitals published today by U.S. News & World Report.
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Trump to Sign Order to Improve Kidney Disease Care
There's a severe organ shortage, which could impede the push for more transplants. In order to tackle that problem, the administration wants to ease financial challenges for living donors.
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Need Emergency Air Lift to Hospital? It Could Cost You $40,000
The median charge of an air ambulance trip was $39,000 in 2016, about 60% more than the $24,000 charged just four years earlier, researchers found.
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Trump Seeks Health Care Cost Details For Consumers
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order he said would make it easier for consumers to get prices for hospital services.
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