Medicare & Medicaid
News articles in this section include actions by federal regulators like the CMS and HHS, as well as information on Medicare and state Medicaid coverage and benefits.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing to pay Medicare Advantage (MA) plans more — $76 billion more in 2026 — than if those same patients were enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. That higher cost comes despite a policy CMS redesigned in 2024 to limit MA plans’ ability to exaggerate patients’ health ...
California health care advocates, labor unions and progressive lawmakers are urging the governor and the Legislature to find new money to fund medical care and other social services for millions of low-income and disabled Californians. Their coalition, known as “Fight for Our Health,” demanded Wednesday on the Capitol steps that the Legislature and soon-to-be lame ...
The U.S. spent 7.2% more on healthcare in 2024 — not due to higher healthcare prices but instead greater use and more intensity of medical goods and services, especially in hospitals.
The Trump administration has released new estimates on improper payments in key government insurance programs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said late Thursday that the estimated improper payment rate in traditional Medicare was 6.55%, or $28.83 billion, in 2025. That’s down from $31.7 billion, or a 7.66% rate, the year prior. The ...
Many low-income Californians prescribed wildly popular weight loss drugs lost their coverage for the medications at the start of the new year. Health officials are recommending diet and exercise as alternatives to heavily advertised weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, advice experts say is unrealistic. “Of course he tried eating well and everything, but ...
When Virginia Guevara moved into a studio apartment in California’s Orange County in 2024 after nearly a decade of homelessness, she needed far more than a roof and a bed. Scattered visits to free clinics notwithstanding, Guevara hadn’t had a full medical checkup in years. She required dental work. She wanted to start looking for ...
While health authority officials updated state lawmakers on Tuesday on how the state will use $180 million in federal rural hospital funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill, they’re also trying to gauge how the allocation compares to the projected loss in funds rural Nevada will face due to pending Medicaid cuts scheduled go into ...
The Trump administration has unveiled yet another new payment model, this one focused on the cost of GLP-1 therapies. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday announced the Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth, or BALANCE, model. The program seeks to make it easier for Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid ...
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the U.S. Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi will now rein in Medicaid drug prices to match what they charged in other developed countries. As ...
The Trump administration proposed new payment cuts in Medicare for prescription drugs, even as pharmaceutical companies struck deals with the government in an effort to avoid just such measures. Friday evening, after an event with drugmakers at the White House, the administration said it plans to slash what Medicare pays for certain medicines administered in physicians’ offices ...