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.
Hospital groups and providers are demanding the Biden administration increase a proposed 3.2% pay bump for inpatient payments to facilities, arguing inflation and a staffing crisis are still hitting them hard. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed the pay bump for fiscal year 2023 as part of the Inpatient Prospective Payment System ...
A recent survey of Medicare Advantage enrollees found 13% had a claim or pre-authorization request denied as the program has gotten scrutiny over its prior authorization practices. The survey, released Monday by the online insurance marketplace eHealth, also found that 67% of respondents chose MA over Medigap due to concerns over its affordability. The MA ...
In California, Democrats call for "a universal, single-payer healthcare system" as part of their party platform. A bid to install such a system failed in the California Assembly at the end of January, but the Golden State's leaders have promised to make another run at it.
Since California expanded health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, a large number of people have been mistakenly bounced between Covered California, the state’s marketplace for those who buy their own insurance, and Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents. Small income changes can cause people’s eligibility to shift, but when bad information is typed into ...
A stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the pandemic has pushed back the go-broke dates for Social Security and Medicare, but officials warn that the current economic turbulence is putting additional pressures on the bedrock retirement programs. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released Thursday says Social Security’s trust fund will be unable to pay ...
Medicare recipients will get a premium reduction — but not until next year — reflecting what Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Friday was an overestimate in costs of covering an expensive and controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. Becerra’s statement said the 2022 premium should be adjusted downward but legal and operational hurdles prevented ...
Giving Americans over 60 access to Medicare would add about 7.3 million people to the program's rolls and swell the budget deficit by $155 billion over a five-year period, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation project said in a new analysis.
Employer-sponsored health plans paid on average 224% of what Medicare paid to hospitals for the same services at the same facilities, according to a new study from RAND Corporation. The report covers billing for hospital inpatient and outpatient services in 2020.
Congress has backed off "Medicare for All" for the time being. But legislators in several states are now taking up the charge.
Employers and private insurance plans in 2020 paid hospitals 224% of what Medicare paid for the same services, with rates for inpatient and outpatient care varying widely from site to site, a new report from RAND finds.