Medicare

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Tougher 'Able-Bodied' Work Rules Expected for Benefits

Trump budget calls for cuts in food stamps, Medicaid

(Newser) - President Trump unveils his first detailed budget plan on Tuesday, and word leaking out in advance suggests he wants big cuts for Medicaid and food stamps. The Washington Post reports that Trump's budget slashes Medicaid by $800 billion over 10 years, meaning he's on board with the House...

Trump: ObamaCare Replacement Is Ready to Go

'Much less expensive and much better'

(Newser) - Donald Trump says he's got a plan to replace ObamaCare ready to go—and there will be "insurance for everybody." In an interview with the Washington Post , the president-elect doesn't say much about the specifics of TrumpCare, though he does say there will be "lower...

Patients of Women Doctors Live Longer
Patients of Women
Doctors Live Longer
NEW STUDY
Dec 20, 2016 11:08 AM CST

Patients of Women Doctors Live Longer

More than 30K lives could be saved if men doctors performed equally

(Newser) - Want to live longer? Get a woman doctor. That's the conclusion of a new Harvard study that found elderly patients are less likely to die if they are treated by a woman. If all doctors performed as well as women doctors, some 32,000 lives would be saved each...

How Sanders Would Pay for Universal Health Care

He says tax hikes, even on middle class, would save money in long run

(Newser) - Bernie Sanders unveiled a single-payer health care plan just before Sunday night's debate that he calls "Medicare for All." He lays it out here , declaring that it's about time health care becomes a guarantee for all Americans, "not a privilege." Some related reading:
  • The
...

If You Get Social Security, Bad News, Again

There's no benefit increase for 2016

(Newser) - The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and federal retirees. It's just the third time in 40 years that payments will remain flat, with all three times occurring since 2010. And there's more bad news: The...

Amputees Fight Medicare for Artificial Limbs

They object to new rules that will limit prosthetics

(Newser) - It's not your usual dry debate over Medicare spending: In this case, it involves amputees fighting for artificial legs and feet. Nearly 150 amputees and their supporters descended on Washington yesterday to protest changes they say will make it harder for them to get prostheses, the Washington Post reports....

Medicare to Pay Doctors for End-of-Life Counseling

Will 'death panels' charge emerge again?

(Newser) - Medicare unveiled plans today to begin paying doctors to have conversations with their patients about end-of-life care and how they want to die. Yes, the same idea that got shot down six years ago when Sarah Palin raised a ruckus about "death panels," reports the AP . A post...

'Milestone' Doc Fix Sails Through Senate

Medicare reform passes 92-8, Obama expected to sign

(Newser) - The "doc fix" bill that passed the House last month has now earned the Senate's stamp of approval. The bill—which includes changes to how Medicare pays doctors and extends the Children's Health Insurance Program until 2017—passed with a 92-8 vote yesterday, hours before doctors were...

The Wildly Varying Cost of Scanning Our Hearts

NYT investigates how much we pay for echocardiograms

(Newser) - As one cardiologist puts it, "At many hospitals, the threshold for ordering an echocardiogram is the presence of a heart." That statement, made to the New York Times , becomes all the more troubling if you read the Times' full look into the use—and generally wildly varying cost—...

Taxpayer Dollars Funding Drugs for Dead People

Medicare payments allowed up to 32 days after patients' deaths: report

(Newser) - Dead men don't wear plaid—and they don't pick up prescription drugs at the pharmacy. Yet Medicare has been paying for medicine for the deceased for up to 32 days after their deaths, the AP reports. A report out today from the Health and Human Services Department's...

Medicare Fund to Last Longer Than Previously Thought

Medicare gets a 4-year boost—but disability benefits are disappearing more quickly

(Newser) - If you’ve been nervously eyeing your Social Security and Medicare updates, wondering if there will be anything left or whether a viable health program will exist by the time you punch your final timecard, Uncle Sam has (some) good news: Benefits funds for Medicare are expected to last for...

Number of Seniors on Pain Pills Surges, Alarmingly

'USA Today' analysis reveals jump over 5 years

(Newser) - More seniors are getting powerful pain meds for longer periods through Medicare, USA Today reports—and the increases are drastic. One in five seniors now gets prescribed pain drugs like Vicodin and Percocet. The number getting opioid pain medication prescriptions jumped 30% between 2007 and 2012, passing 8.5 million...

Odd Treatments Bring a Few Doctors Medicare Millions

Surgeon billed for $3.7M—without doing surgery, WSJ finds

(Newser) - A rare heart treatment involving strapping patients to a bed using large cuffs that promote blood flow is rarely used by America's cardiologists; the Cleveland Clinic's 141 cardiologists used it on just six patients last year. But one LA internist used it on nearly all his 615 Medicare...

Medicare Ruling Big Win for Transgender Rights

No longer can program automatically deny requests to cover surgery

(Newser) - Medicare can no longer automatically deny coverage requests for sex reassignment surgeries, a federal board ruled today in a groundbreaking decision that recognizes the procedures are medically necessary for people who don't identify with their biological sex. Ruling in favor of 74-year-old transgender Army veteran Denee Mallon of Albuquerque,...

Medicare Paid Doctor $21M in Single Year

He's one of 344 who received at least $3M in 2012

(Newser) - Medicare's books have been opened up after an extended legal battle, and perhaps the most startling detail is that a single doctor was reimbursed nearly $21 million in 2012 alone. Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen was one of 344 physicians who raked in more than $3 million from Medicare that...

The Government Is Growing, Dying at the Same Time

Robert Samuelson argues that the Democrats are paradoxically the ones shrinking it

(Newser) - As the American people age, a pernicious paradox has taken hold of the federal budget: "We are slowly dismantling the federal government, even as its spending is growing larger," observes Robert Samuelson at the Washington Post . With every budget, lawmakers are slashing into discretionary spending, but with Social...

Government Spent $172M on Penis Pumps
 Government Spent 
 $172M on Penis Pumps 
new report
Jan 14, 2014 11:30 AM CST

Government Spent $172M on Penis Pumps

At double the retail price per pump

(Newser) - Between 2006 and 2011, Medicare spent $172 million on penis pumps, according to a report out Monday by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. That figure is outrageous for a reason other than that you might think. As NBC News reports, penis pumps, more properly...

Not Dying? Hospices Want You Anyway

 Not Dying? Hospice 
 Wants You Anyway 
WAPO INVESTIGATION
Dec 27, 2013 7:30 AM CST

Not Dying? Hospice Wants You Anyway

Recruiting healthier patients for profit, 'Washington Post' reveals

(Newser) - Hospice care is for the terminally ill, yet the number of "hospice survivors" jumped 50% in California between 2002 and 2012. Something to celebrate? Not quite: A Washington Post investigation into the $17 billion industry now dominated by for-profits reveals hospice companies recruit patients who aren't dying because...

Brand-Name Drugs Cost Medicare Billions

Doctors with ties to industry go with pricey versions instead of generics

(Newser) - So much money wasted, such a seemingly simple fix. A ProPublica investigation finds that a relatively small group of doctors costs taxpayers hundreds of millions dollars per year because they choose to prescribe pricey brand-name drugs to low-income Medicare patients instead of generic versions. Is it because they have hearts...

Finally, Washington Sees a Way Out

Obama, House GOP leaders to meet today

(Newser) - Signs of hope in DC: Both parties are increasingly pushing for an end to the government shutdown and a debt-ceiling increase, with President Obama set to meet with 18 top House Republicans today, the Hill reports. Those Republicans include Paul Ryan, who's at the forefront of a short-term plan...

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