Health Care

Number of the Day: $456 million

By Michael Rainey

PhRMA, the lobbying group that represents the pharmaceutical industry, had a banner year in 2017, bringing in $456 million, Axios reported Tuesday. Much of the total, which represents a 69 percent...
Bernie Sanders’ New Drug Plan Sounds a Bit Like Trump’s

By Michael Rainey

A new proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) would require pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices on some drugs down to levels found in other wealthy countries — or...
Buyers Of Short-Term Health Plans: Wise Or Shortsighted?

By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News

Supporters of the nation’s health law condemn them. A few states, including California and New York, have banned them. Other states limit them. But to some insurance brokers and consumers, short-term...
Medicare Improper Payments Fall to Lowest Since 2010

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Improper payments by Medicare in fiscal 2018 dropped to their lowest rate since 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said Friday in a report flagged by Modern Healthcare . CMS...
Pfizer Says It Will Raise Prices on 41 Drugs

By Yuval Rosenberg

When drug giant Pfizer announced in July that it would roll back price hikes on its drugs, it made clear that the change was temporary . Facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump, the...

Poor Health of Workers Costs Employers an Extra $530 Billion: Report

By Yuval Rosenberg

U.S. employers spend about $880 billion on health care benefits for employees and their dependents, but poor health among workers costs them another $530 billion — or about 60 cents for every dollar...
Trump Administration Plots Costly Private-Care Expansion for Veterans

By Isaac Arnsdorf, ProPublica

Last June, President Donald Trump signed a landmark law on veterans’ health care after months of tense negotiations. At the ceremony in the Rose Garden, Trump said the bill would deliver on his...
20 Million More Americans Have Health Insurance, Compared to 2010

By The Fiscal Times Staff

When President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, about 48.6 million people lacked health insurance in the U.S. In the first half of 2018, 28.5 million lacked insurance – a decrease...
The Growth of Medicare Advantage

By Michael Rainey

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans – which provide more comprehensive coverage than Medicare parts A and B and are managed by private insurers – has more than tripled since 2005, according to a...
States Spent $2 Trillion in 2018. Here’s Where It Went.

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 50 states spent more than $2 trillion for the first time in fiscal 2018, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of State Budget Officers. At the same time, as the...

What the Exit Polls Revealed on Taxes and Health Care

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Here's what exit polls told us about some key issues: 45 percent: NBC News’ exit poll found that 45 percent of voters said the Republican tax cuts had no impact on their personal finances, compared...
Fiscal Mayhem Ahead in 2019 — and 5 Other Takes on the Election Results

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Prepare for budget mayhem: “The budget bottom line is simple: Senate Republicans will have a very different fiscal agenda than House Democrats, and both houses’ tax and spending to-do lists will be...
What Should Democrats Do Now That They’ve Won the House?

By Michael Rainey

With Democrats winning control of the House Tuesday, political experts are lining up to give advice on what they should do with their new powers. While there’s little chance of enacting significant...
3 Areas Where Trump and Democrats Can Maybe, Possibly Work Together

By Yuval Rosenberg

Will divided government lead to anything beyond more legislative gridlock? President Trump and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, the presumptive next speaker of the House, have both spoken...
3 Election Takeaways on Health Care

By Yuval Rosenberg

Midterm voters made it clear that health care issues mattered to them, even if it proved less than decisive in the outcome of some major races. A plurality of voters, 41 percent , told exit pollsters...