Amid a nationwide opioid epidemic, a group of attorneys general is urging Congress to pass a bill that would give more Americans access to affordable drug addiction treatment. [More]
medicaid
What The Heck Is Single-Payer Healthcare, Anyway?
By 9.13.17
Health coverage has been in the news in a big way this year, thanks to Republican-led efforts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) throughout the spring and summer. That plan ultimately failed, but both sides of the political aisle do agree on one thing: There’s a lot of room to go on improving health care access and containing medical costs. A new rallying cry has risen up among Democrats: Time for single-payer! But what does that actually mean — and what could it look like? [More]
More Than 1-In-4 Nursing Home Abuse Cases May Go Unreported To Police
By 8.28.17
Just as the Trump administration is attempting to prevent nursing home residents or their families from ever being able to sue longterm care facilities for neglect or fraud, a federal audit claims that an alarming percentage of physical and sexual abuse cases at nursing homes may be going unreported to law enforcement. [More]
Budget Office: Long-Term Medicaid Spending Would Drop 35% Under Obamacare Repeal Plan
By 6.29.17
As we mentioned in our coverage of the Congressional Budget Office’s review of the Senate proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the ten-year focus of the CBO analysis could not fully illustrate the impact of Medicaid cuts that wouldn’t come until the latter half of that decade. Today, the CBO released a separate report that estimates what effect those cuts might have ten to twenty years from now. [More]
Hospital Groups, Public Health Officials: Senate Obamacare Repeal Bill Makes “Unsustainable” Cuts To Coverage
By 6.23.17
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]
Report: Mylan Offered Discounts To States If They Made It Harder For Patients To Get Alternatives
By 6.22.17
Controversial pharma company Mylan offered several states participating in Medicaid purchasing pools discounts on the EpiPen if they could ensure competitors’ products weren’t readily available to patients, according to a new report that raises additional concerns that the drugmaker engaged in anti-competitive practices as it raised the price of the life-saving drug nearly 400% in just 10 years. [More]
Trump Administration Will Allow Nursing Homes To Strip Residents Of Legal Rights
June 7, 2017
The Trump administration has proposed revising a rule that hasn’t even gone into effect yet, with the goal of making sure that nursing home residents and their loved ones can not sue these long-term care facilities in the event that something horrible happens. [More]
HHS: Taxpayers May Have Overpaid $1.27 Billion For EpiPens
By 5.31.17 — Updated: 6.1.17
Even though drug company Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to quickly settle a Justice Department investigation into allegations that it deliberately overcharged Medicaid for its EpiPen emergency allergy injector, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that taxpayers may have overpaid more than twice that amount over ten years. [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]
EpiPen Maker Mylan Sued State That Gave Preferred Status To Cheaper Alternative
By 4.24.17
As the price for the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment soared by some 600%, Medicaid regulators in one state tried to de-prioritize the drug in favor of a less-expensive alternative. EpiPen’s parent company Mylan could have lowered the price on its signature product, but instead it chose to sue the state. [More]
Report: Obamacare Replacement Will Likely Cover Fewer Americans
By 2.24.17
So far, the only thing the White House has said about its plans to replace the Affordable Care Act is that it would provide “insurance for everyone” and that people would be “beautifully covered,” but comments coming out of Washington indicate that not everyone will be able to obtain coverage under the replacement plan. [More]
House ‘Freedom Caucus’ Asks Trump To Undo 232 Rules On Net Neutrality, Tobacco, Nursing Homes & Ceiling Fans
By 12.15.16
What’s on your wish list this holiday season? For the few dozen members of the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus, the hope to see President-elect Donald Trump undo or revise more than 200 federal rules involving everything from tobacco to food labels to ceiling fans to your constitutional right to bring a lawsuit against your credit card company. [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]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: $465M Mylan EpiPen Settlement Is “Shamefully Weak… Shockingly Soft”
By 10.24.16
Earlier this month, drugmaker Mylan disclosed a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the company had defrauded the Medicaid system by mis-categorizing its high-priced EpiPen allergy treatment. The DOJ has still yet to confirm this settlement or provide any details, and critics of the deal say it looks like Mylan is getting off easy. [More]
Nursing Home Industry Files Lawsuit To Keep Preventing Patients From Filing Lawsuits
By 10.18.16
Last month, the federal government issued new rules for nursing homes, barring most long-term care facilities from using forced arbitration agreements to stop new residents from filing lawsuits against the homes. Now nursing home operators and industry trade groups are challenging that rule by doing the one thing they want to prevent their patients from doing: going to court. [More]
Mylan To Pay $465M To Settle EpiPen Medicaid Pricing Scandal; Critics Call Deal “Inadequate”
By 10.7.16 — Updated: 10.24.16
Amid recent revelations that EpiPen maker Mylan has been overcharging U.S. taxpayers for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars since at least 2011, the drug company says it has agreed to pay $465 million to close the book on a federal investigation into its Medicaid pricing — all without admitting any liability. [More]
Administrator: Mylan Has Overcharged Medicaid For EpiPen By At Least 10%
By 10.6.16
Though the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment has been around for decades, the increased demand for the drug and its soaring price tag have caused Medicaid spending on EpiPen to go from around $66 million in 2011 to $365 million in 2015. All this time, claims Andrew Slavitt, Acting Administrator for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Mylan’s parent company has been shortchanging Medicaid on rebates. [More]
New Rule Will Stop Many Nursing Homes From Stripping Residents Of Their Right To Sue
By 9.28.16
As we’ve written about previously, some nursing homes and other long-term care facilities use forced arbitration contracts to prevent their residents bringing a legal action against the home in a court of law. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule that will prohibit long-term care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid from forcing residents into arbitration. [More]
