Health Care

Who Will Protect Medicare? GOP, Dems Duke It Out

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 2018 election may be a referendum on President Donald Trump, but it’s also turning into a battle over Medicare, at least in some key races. The Washington Post’s David Weigel reports that...
Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...
House to Considers Billions in Cuts to Obamacare Taxes

By Michael Rainey

In addition to a package of bills that would make the individual tax cuts permanent , the House is expected to consider legislation this week that would delay or roll back multiple tax provisions in...
Arkansas Drops Thousands from Medicaid

By Michael Rainey

More than 4,000 people will lose their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas for failing to meet the state’s new work requirements. Earlier this year, the Trump administration approved the new work rules,...
‘Things Are So Much Worse’ – but Does Anyone Care About the Deficit?

By Yuval Rosenberg

As we told you yesterday , the Congressional Budget Office estimated this week that the deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal 2018 totaled $895 billion, or $222 billion more than it was over the...

Pharma CEO: It's a 'Moral Requirement' to Raise Prices

By Michael Rainey

Nostrum Laboratories, a small pharmaceutical firm based in Missouri, raised the price of the antibiotic nitrofurantoin from $474.75 to $2,392 a bottle last month. Here is how the CEO, Nirmal Mulye,...
Charging Almost $200 for a Bottle of Pills Worth $6

By Yuval Rosenberg

Bloomberg’s Robert Langreth, David Ingold and Jackie Gu take a fascinatingly detailed look at the “secret drug pricing system” that generates millions of dollars for pharmacy benefit managers,...
The Remedy For Surprise Medical Bills May Lie In Stitching Up Federal Law

By Michelle Andrews and Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News

When Drew Calver had a heart attack last year, his health plan paid nearly $56,000 for the 44-year-old’s four-day emergency hospital stay at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, a hospital...
Trump Says He Made Social Security, Medicare Stronger. Fact-Checker Says False.

By The Fiscal Times Staff

President Trump said this week that "Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making...
Did Soaring Health Care Costs Consume Americans’ Pay Raises?

By Michael Rainey

A hard-hitting report released this week from analysts at the insurance firm Willis Towers Watson claims that the health care system is responsible in large part for the lack of income growth...

Who's Using the Social Safety Net? More and More, It’s the Middle Class

By Michael Rainey

Middle-class families account for a growing share of social safety net spending in the U.S., according to a report from the Brookings Institution Tuesday. The Axios chart below, based on the...
Here’s What Democrats Want to Do if They Win the House in November

By Yuval Rosenberg

Election Day is just over two months away, but Democrats — with reason to be confident that they can win control of the House — are already planning their legislative agenda for 2019. In addition to...
California Assembly Passes Bill Cracking Down on Dialysis Reimbursement

By Yuval Rosenberg

The California State Assembly on Wednesday passed a landmark bill cracking down on the prices and payment practices of dialysis centers, delivering a win to insurers who backed the bill and...
Majority of Americans Support Medicaid for All

By Michael Rainey

Most Americans support the expansion of Medicaid to provide universal health care coverage, according to a recent study by the Health Research Institute at PricewaterhouseCoopers. But while there is...
The Amazing Growth of High-Deductible Health-Care Plans

By Yuval Rosenberg

According to CDC data released Wednesday, the percentage of Americans under age 65 with a high-deductible health plan grew from 43.7 percent in 2017 to 47 percent in the first three months of 2018. “...