Author: Scott Welch
The two presidential candidates who have most strenuously backed Medicare-for-all are scrambling to ease concerns that it would create higher costs for many middle-class Americans.
A new California law that reclassifies some independent contractors as employees, requiring they be offered a range of benefits and worker protections, will likely expand health insurance coverage in the state, health policy experts say.
It’s shocking how far pharmaceutical companies go to keep drug prices high. Take, for example, a tactic known as “pay for delay.” It allows pharmaceutical companies to keep cheaper generic versions of their drugs off of the market.
Managers of Covered California say participating health plans will be encouraging off-exchange enrollees who qualify for exchange subsidies to switch to exchange coverage.
Issuers of stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans may pay much higher minimum sales compensation levels in 2020.
Millions of older adults can start signing up next week for private policies offering Medicare drug and medical coverage for 2020. But many risk wasting money and even jeopardizing their health care due to changes in Medicare’s plan finder, its most popular website.
Sylvia Valenzuela was in bed for two months early in her pregnancy because of severe nausea and vomiting caused by a rare condition. At a time when she desperately needed ongoing medical care, the Fresno resident says she suddenly lost her Medi-Cal coverage through no fault of her own.
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced an action plan for allowing prescription drugs to be imported from Canada and other countries. However, employer plan sponsors and plan administrators must heed caution at this time as this is just the announcement that proposed rules are coming.
In late September, the California state senate approved a bill, AB-744, that if passed would result in telehealth being reimbursed at the same rate as an in-person doctor's visit. The bill is expected to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, and could eventually have ripple effects that touch telehealth reimbursement across the country.
The estimated cost of waste in the U.S. healthcare system ranges from $760 billion to $935 billion, or about 25% of the total healthcare spending, according to a report in JAMA issued Monday.