After reviewing the Senate bill to gut and replace much of the Affordable Care Act, groups representing the nation’s hospitals believe that this legislation will leave millions — particularly those with chronic ailments and the disabled — without access to care. [More]
healthcare
CBO: House Obamacare Repeal Plan Leaves 23 Million More Without Insurance; Higher Out-Of-Pocket Costs
By 5.24.17
Nearly three weeks after the House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act — a budget resolution intended to repeal and replace much of the Affordable Care Act — the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is estimating that this latest version of the GOP plan will still leave 23 million additional people without insurance, and result in policies that will drive up your out-of-pocket expenses. [More]
Psychiatric Hospital Chain Reportedly Under Investigation For Allegedly Holding Patients Longer Than Needed
By 5.24.17
Investigators from the FBI and the Department of Defense are reportedly looking into allegations that Universal Health Services — the nation’s largest provider of inpatient psychiatric care, with nearly 200 facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico — is padding its bottom line by deliberately holding patients longer than is medically necessary. [More]
What You Should Know About America’s High Rate Of Maternal Mortality
By 5.12.17
When you think about fatalities during childbirth, your mind may immediately leap to infant deaths. But although it’s much safer to give birth in America now than say, 100 years ago, women are dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes at a higher rate than any other country in the developed world. [More]
We Won’t Get Estimate On Cost Of Obamacare Repeal Bill Until At Least May 22
By 5.10.17
It’s already been nearly a week since the House of Representatives narrowly approved a controversial budget resolution that guts much of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and we still don’t have any estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office of what this massive change to the insurance system might cost. Now the CBO says it may be another two weeks until we get that estimate. [More]
New Safety Risks Found In 1-In-3 Drugs After FDA Approval
By 5.10.17
No one wants patients to have to wait longer for access to potentially lifesaving new drugs, and the newly approved head of the Food and Drug Administration has made it clear that he intends to speed up current approval processes when possible. However, a new study says safety risks were found in around one-third of all new FDA-approved medications after they had been okayed for use by the agency. [More]
Obamacare Repeal Bill To Face Questions, Changes From Skeptical Republicans
By 5.4.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The House of Representatives has narrowly passed a budget resolution intended to repeal a number of core tenets of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, with 20 Republicans voting against the bill. It now heads on to the Senate, where the GOP can’t really afford to have any of its members voting no. However, a number of Republicans have already expressed skepticism of what’s in the legislation. [More]
How To Protect Yourself From A Hospital Data Breach
By 4.4.17
You may never have considered whether your preferred hospital is one of the approximately 311 major teaching hospitals in the U.S., but according to a new study, the type of hospital you choose might affect your privacy. [More]
Just When You Thought It Was Dead, ACA Repeal Talks Are Back
By 3.28.17
After the Republican effort to repeal core elements of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) was pulled minutes before it was to be considered for a vote by the House of Representatives, both President Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan indicated that the ACA was the “law of the land” for the time-being, and that there likely wouldn’t be another repeal attempt this year. But now, Ryan and other lawmakers are already indicating that they may work together to target the ACA again sooner than expected.
[More]
6 Easy Ways To Get Rid Of Unused Medication
By 3.20.17
Today is National Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet Day, and chances are you haven’t given much thought to the unused medications taking up space in your medicine cabinet. [More]
What Are Health Savings Accounts & Why Are They A Big Part Of Obamacare Replacement Plan?
By 3.14.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Long before Republican lawmakers unveiled their legislative efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, supporters of this movement had talked up “health savings accounts” (HSAs) and how crucial they would be to any eventual Obamacare replacement. What these lawmakers and policy makers often skip over is what an HSA actually is, and whether expanding the use of HSAs will really help most Americans. [More]
Hospital, Doctors Groups Say They Can’t Support Current Obamacare Replacement Proposal
By 3.8.17
People are still dissecting and deciding where they come down in response to the recently proposed legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Yesterday, two of the largest groups in the American healthcare business advised lawmakers that they are not thrilled with what they’ve seen so far. [More]
Congressional Committees Release Text Of Obamacare Repeal & Replacement Bills
By 3.6.17 — Updated: 3.7.17
The piece of legislation that has been the hottest ticket in D.C. — the GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act — is beginning to take shape, with the release by the House Committee On Energy & Commerce and the House Ways & Means Committee of their proposals to undo the healthcare reform legislation. [More]
Anthem Responds To Cigna’s Lawsuit With A Suit Of Its Own
By 2.15.17
There are bad breakups, and then there are breakups that involve both sides suing each other at the same time: A day after Cigna announced it would officially give up on its proposed merger with Anthem and filed a lawsuit claiming billions of dollars in damages, Anthem has turned around and filed its own lawsuit in response. [More]
Federal Judge Blocks $37 Billion Merger Of Aetna & Humana
By 1.23.17
Six months after the U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general from eight states and the District of Columbia sued to stop the merger of insurance giants Aetna and Humana, the federal judge in the case has blocked the deal from moving forward. [More]
The EpiPen Generic Is Finally Here, For $300 Per Twin-Pack
By 12.16.16
A day after Mylan was one of six pharmaceutical companies named in a multi-state lawsuit alleging price-fixing on generic drugs, the maker of high-priced emergency allergy treatment EpiPen announced that the generic version of the popular epinephrine auto-injector is finally hitting the market, giving people a lower-cost (but still pricey) option for buying the drug. [More]
20 States Accuse Teva, Mylan & Other Pharma Companies Of Price-Fixing
By 12.15.16
When the Justice Department announced it was bringing criminal charges against two former executives of a pharmaceuticals company, alleging a conspiracy to fix prices on generic drugs, we said that this was likely just the tip of the legal iceberg. Today, the industry ran smack into that iceberg — in the form of a lawsuit filed by twenty states against six different drug companies, including notables like Teva and Mylan. [More]
States That Expanded Medicaid Hope To Keep It Under Trump Administration
By 11.28.16
There’s no way to tap-dance around this one: healthcare access is an incredibly politicized and partisan issue in this country. And yet even while our two major political parties disagree vehemently, at every level, about whether existing healthcare laws are effective or worthwhile, at least one part now proving popular in a surprisingly bipartisan way. [More]
