Medicare

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House will hold a showdown vote next week on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices, expanded Thursday to provide seniors with dental, vision and hearing benefits not currently covered. Leading Democratic committee chairmen said the Congressional Budget Office has indicated that Pelosi’s bill would save the government […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The financial condition of the government’s bedrock retirement programs for middle- and working-class Americans remains shaky, with Medicare pointed toward insolvency by 2026, according to a report Monday by the government’s overseers of Medicare and Social Security. It paints a sobering picture of the programs, though it’s relatively unchanged from last year’s […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Medicare beneficiaries would face higher prescription drug costs under President Donald Trump‘s budget even as the sickest patients save thousands of dollars, a complex trade-off that may make it harder to sell Congress on the plan in an election year. In budget documents, the administration said its proposals strike a balance […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion budget for next year that heralds an era of $1 trillion-plus federal deficits and — unlike the plan he released last year — never comes close to promising a balanced ledger even after 10 years. The growing deficits reflect, in great part, the impact of […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sequel to President Donald Trump’s first year in office is opening with the lead player hamstrung by a government shutdown and hunkering down amid investigations, crises and political unease. After 365 days in the Oval Office, Trump has found that his drive to deliver quickly on campaign promises has yielded to […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a shutdown clock ticking toward a Friday midnight deadline, congressional Republicans scrambled on Wednesday to finalize a must-pass spending bill. A major obstacle evaporated after key GOP senators dropped a demand to add health insurance subsidies for the poor. The No. 2 House Republican, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, said party leaders […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Heart attacks and broken hips cause much suffering and worry as people grow older. This year, Medicare wants to start changing how it pays for treatment of these life-threatening conditions, to promote quality and contain costs. Beneficiaries and family members may notice a new approach. Hospitals and doctors in dozens of communities […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Striving for better quality and more predictable costs, Medicare on Monday launched a major payment change for hip and knee replacements, the most common inpatient surgery for its 55 million beneficiaries. Starting April 1, hospitals in 67 metropolitan areas — from Akron, Ohio, to Wichita, Kansas — will be held responsible for […]

Have a question for the doctor? Text it to “646464” (OHOHOH). It is open enrollment season for Medicare, Part D when anyone with Medicare coverage can change his health plan and prescription drug coverage. That goes for anyone who gets health benefits through Original Medicare, a Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plan with no drug benefit, a […]