Medicare Medicaid Category

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.

New Eligibility Rules Are a Financial Salve for Nearly 2 Million on Medi-Cal

Millions of Medi-Cal beneficiaries can now save for a rainy day, keep an inheritance, or hold on to a modest nest egg, without losing coverage, thanks to an eligibility change phased in over the past year and a half. It also has opened the door for thousands who previously did not qualify for Medi-Cal, the health insurance ...

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Federal Judge Tosses Lobbying Group’s Lawsuit Challenging Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a major pharmaceutical industry lobbying group and two other organizations that challenged Medicare’s new powers to negotiate prices for costly prescription medicines.

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In Fight Over Medicare Payments, the Hospital Lobby Shows Its Strength

In the battle to control health care costs, hospitals are deploying their political power to protect their bottom lines. The point of contention: For decades, Medicare has paid hospitals — including hospital-owned physician practices that may not be physically located in a hospital building — about double the rates it pays other doctors and facilities ...

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Senators Working On Legislation To Reform How Medicare Pays Physicians

A bipartisan group of senators announced Friday that it is working on new legislation for “long-term reforms” to physician payments under Medicare and other program changes. In a joint release, U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee; John Barrasso, R-Wyoming; Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan; Mark Warner, D-Virginia; and Minority Whip John Thune, R-South Dakota ...

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Health Insurers Balk At Proposed Medicare Advantage Rates

CVS Health and Centene executives say newly proposed Medicare Advantage rates for 2025 aren’t “sufficient” and hinted they could cut benefits if the federal government finalizes the rates as is. Why it matters: More than half of Medicare enrollees are in private Medicare Advantage plans. The specter of potential cuts to seniors’ health care benefits in an election ...

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Alleged Medical Supply Scam Could Cost Medicare $2 Billion

Patients have been reporting mysterious claims to Medicare for months of catheters they never ordered or received, which led to a massive spike in billing the accounts of more than 450,000 Medicare beneficiaries in 2023.

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U.S. Makes Initial Offers in Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it was sending initial offers to the makers of the first 10 prescription drugs that have been selected for price negotiations with Medicare under a landmark federal program intended to reduce drug spending.

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Cigna Sells Medicare Business To Health Care Services Corp. For $3.7 Billion

Health Care Service Corporation announced Wednesday that it will buy Cigna’s Medicare business. The $3.7 billion sale will see Health Care Service, the country’s largest customer-owned health insurer, take control of Cigna’s Medicare Advantage, Supplemental Benefits and Part D customers, as well as the CareAllies business that works with healthcare providers. Cigna’s Medicare plans cover over 3.6 million people, with 2.5 million ...

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Is Housing Health Care? State Medicaid Programs Increasingly Say ‘Yes’

States are plowing billions of dollars into a high-stakes health care experiment that’s exploding around the country: using scarce public health insurance money to provide housing for the poorest and sickest Americans. California is going the biggest, pumping $12 billion into an ambitious Medicaid initiative largely to help homeless patients find housing, pay for it, ...

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Hospital Lobbying Could Sink Effort To Trim Medicare Costs

Hospitals intensely lobbying to stop a bipartisan measure that would trim their Medicare payments are emphasizing how the policy may hobble already struggling rural hospitals. Why it matters: The hospitals’ argument is apparently resonating in the Senate — raising further doubts about whether Congress can overcome pressure from a politically powerful lobby to enact modest Medicare savings. ...

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