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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Medicare

Medicare stories: 74 news summaries

41 - 60 of 74 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

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 Seeking Surgery 
 at 80? You're Not Alone 

Operations on elderly patients raise questions about aggressive treatments

Jan 18, 09 7:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Folks over 80 are increasingly going under the knife despite critics who say it's unethical or financially perilous, the Sacramento Bee reports. New medical technology has persuaded doctors to violate tradition and perform operations like cancer and open-heart surgery on octogenarians. But one doctor has sparked controversy by saying patients... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • health care costs • elderly • surgery • Medicare

Interview

Obama Vows Social Security, Medicare Reform

Will hold summit
to hash out ways to
rein in spending

Jan 16, 09 8:05 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama promised major overhauls for the country’s ever-growing entitlement programs yesterday in a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Post. We have “kicked this can down the road,” Obama said. “We are now at the end of the road.” Obama will hold a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • entitlement programs • Medicare • Social Security • interview • President Obama

Obama Targets Social Security, Medicare

Faced with trillion-dollar deficit, president-elect vows reform, trims

Jan 8, 09 7:38 AM CST
(Newser) - In his first foray into the hazardous terrain of entitlement programs, Barack Obama said yesterday that his administration would overhaul Social Security and Medicare to clamp down on government spending. At a news conference and in a subsequent interview with the New York Times, the president-elect said, "If we... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • entitlement programs • Medicare • deficit • Social Security • economic stimulus package • President Obama

 Daschle Will 
 Play Hardball 
 on Health Reform 

Incoming HHS Secretary will avoid Hillary's pitfalls

Dec 15, 08 11:01 AM CST
(Newser) - Tom Daschle, Barack Obama's incoming Director of Health and Human Services, has an aggressive strategy for reforming health care, and no intentions of seeing it fizzle the way the Clintons' efforts did in 1993, reports the Los Angeles Times. The key will be reeling in major health-care interest groups, along... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • Hillary Clinton • health insurance • Health and Human Services • Medicare • American Medical Association • health care reform • special interests • Tom Daschle

ANALYSIS

Big Pharma Seeks Big Profits in Developing Nations

Drug Makers See Future in New Markets

Nov 15, 08 2:47 AM CST
(Newser) - The pharmaceutical industry is turning away from the US shores that helped fill its pockets and toward the developing world, the Economist reports. Massive growth has made markets like India and China too attractive to ignore, despite lower income levels and weaker patent laws. And many companies fear Barack Obama's... More »

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China • India • pharmaceutical companies • Medicare • GlaxoSmithKline • Pfizer • emerging markets • pharmaceutical industry

Senate Dem Unveils Broad Health Reform

Baucus proposal would guarantee insurance for all citizens

Nov 12, 08 7:21 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama made health care reform a key plank of his campaign, but even before he's been inaugurated Congressional Democrats are introducing legislation to transform the system. Leading the charge is Max Baucus, the Montana senator who leads the finance committee. His plan, which he'll introduce today, guarantees health insurance... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • Barack Obama • Congress • Medicare • Medicaid • health care reform • Max Baucus • President Obama

Pinched Patients Skimping on Vital Medication

Docs warn trend
could cause
health care time bomb

Oct 22, 08 12:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cash-strapped consumers nationwide are risking their health by cutting back on prescription drugs, the New York Times reports. Some try to stretch out their supply by splitting their pills in half or taking them every other day. Others choose for themselves which medications to stop taking, increasing the chances of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
drugs • Medicare • prescription drugs • medication • pharmacy • drug costs

OPINION

Prospect of 'McCaincare' Terrifies Krugman

Republican's plan spells free-market catastrophe for the sick and poor

Oct 6, 08 2:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain’s health care plan seems designed for “comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. McCain “wants to blow up the current system” by junking the tax break for employer-provided insurance. To compensate for the lost insurance, McCain... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • Medicare • health care reform • Election 2008

ANALYSIS

McCain Health Plan Would Shrink Medicare, Medicaid

Cuts would help fund tax credits for buying care on open market

Oct 6, 08 12:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain’s health care plan, based on tax credits, would be funded by cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, which analysts say could amount to some $1.3 trillion over a decade. The move would allow McCain to uphold his pledge of a “budget neutral” health strategy, the Wall ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • Barack Obama • John McCain • Medicare • Medicaid • tax credit • Election 2008

Medicare Fudged Fraud Figures: Report

Claims to have cut bogus charges overstated

Aug 21, 08 8:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Medicare's boasts of having reduced fraud by billions are misleading, a draft report obtained by the New York Times finds. Auditors were told to ignore procedures that would have accurately measured fraudulent claims for medical equipment, the draft report says.   Proper methods would have revealed an estimated $2.8... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fraud • health insurance • Medicare • corruption • Medicaid

 House, Senate Override 
 Bush Veto on Medicare 

Move means payments to doctors won't be cut by nearly 11%

Jul 15, 08 5:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Congress today overrode President Bush's veto of legislation on Medicare, ensuring that payments to doctors won't be cut by nearly 11%, CNN reports. The House voted 383-41, and the Senate followed 70-26 to override the president for only the fourth time during his presidency. Bush says the legislation doesn't address... More »

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Senate • Medicare • House of Representatives • veto override • presidential veto

 Kennedy Returns to Senate 

Ailing senator makes his first trip back since brain surgery

Jul 9, 08 4:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Edward Kennedy returned to the Senate today for the first time since his surgery for brain cancer to cast a vote on Medicare legislation, CNN reports. Fellow senators greeted him with a long standing ovation. Kennedy, 76, made a thumbs-up gesture after casting his vote with a loud "aye.... More »

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Senate • Medicare • Ted Kennedy • brain cancer

Dems Ready to Slap McCain on Medicare Bill

GOP senator absent with 1 vote needed to save doctor payments

Jul 9, 08 12:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Democrats are preparing to attack John McCain for hurting doctors, the elderly, and veterans—all by not showing up, The Hill reports. Medicare legislation to stave off a 10.6% cut in physician payments is one vote short in the Senate, and the presumptive GOP nominee, repeatedly absent when it... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • elderly • Senate • Medicare • physician • American Medical Association • American College of Surgeons

McCain Vows
to Balance
the Budget

Social Security reform one scenario; Dems
call plan unrealistic

Jul 7, 08 1:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain will pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term, Politico reports, promising spending and entitlement programs, including Social Security, in a policy paper released today. McCain is renewing a promise he’d backed off from in April—a vow likely to excite his fellow... More »

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John McCain • entitlement programs • Medicare • budget • spending • Social Security • McCain 2008 • balanced budget • economy

 Medicare Fraud Runs Rampant 

Most claims are filled automatically

Jun 13, 08 1:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Health care fraud is rampant, especially in South Florida and the LA area, and surprisingly easy to pull off, reports the Washington Post. The 11-digit annual price tag could be smaller if investigators focused more on the fact that Medicare, for example, is "highly vulnerable" to scam artists and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fraud • Medicare • health care industry • Michael Mukasey

Congress: No More Scribbled Scrips, Doc

Legislation will nudge MDs toward electronic prescription system

Jun 12, 08 4:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - Senators from both sides of the aisle are pushing doctors away from their prescription pads and towards electronic prescribing, the Chicago Tribune reports. Politicians and lobbyists hope the new system will cut down on mis-filled prescriptions and harmful, but avoidable, drug interactions. More »

MORE ABOUT:
medicine • drugs • Medicare • legislation • prescription drugs • doctor • electronic prescriptions • pharmacy

Medicare May Be Behind Prostate Treatment Move

After funding cut, more doctors used surgical castration over injection

Apr 7, 08 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Slashed Medicare reimbursement might have altered how doctors treat prostate cancer, pushing them to favor castration surgery over hormone therapy, USA Today reports. A study in the journal Cancer shows hormone-therapy injections jumped in the 1990s and early 2000s, while castration surgeries decreased. But when Medicare halved what it paid... More »

MORE ABOUT:
prostate cancer • surgery • Medicare • doctor • urology • hormone therapy

Clinton Pitches Cap on Health Insurance

Proposes to limit premiums to  5-10%
of median income

Mar 28, 08 8:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton has proposed putting a cap on premiums in her universal health care plan, limiting them to between 5% and 10% of family income, the New York Times reports. The average cost of a family policy bought by an individual last year was $5,799, or 10% of median... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • Hillary Clinton • health insurance • Medicare • universal health care • health insurance premiums

Social Security, Medicare Woes Unchanged

Programs bound for insolvency, annual status report says

Mar 25, 08 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Social Security and Medicare still face financial problems down the road, but the situation became no worse last year, trustees for the programs said today. The trustees predict that Social Security will become insolvent in 2041, Medicare in 2019. True to form, Republicans sounded alarms about the issue while Democrats... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Medicare • Henry Paulson • Social Security • Social Security trustees

US Braces for Explosion
in Knee and Hip Surgeries

$65B cost will be born largely by public

Mar 7, 08 11:34 AM CST
(Newser) - The number of hip and knee replacements performed in the US will explode in the next several decades—knee operations surging fivefold and hips doubling—as aging baby boomers opt to stay out of wheelchairs, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons estimates. The pricetag will reach $65 billion in less... More »

MORE ABOUT:
obesity • Medicare • Medicaid • knee replacement • hip replacement • Lahey Clinic Medical Center • arthritis • Dr. Richard Iorio • Dr. Joseph Buckwalter • University of Iowa Medical Center

41 - 60 of 74 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>


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