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.
Medicare has locked in a controversial pay cut for specialty doctors next year, normalizing reimbursement between specialists and primary care doctors and curbing the influence of a powerful physician association in setting rates. The CMS finalized the 2026 Medicare physician fee schedule on Friday. The massive payment rule includes a so-called “efficiency adjustment,” which reduces ...
Two leading organizations representing Medicaid managed care plans are offering several key suggestions to the Trump administration for managing the rollout of work requirements in the program. In the letter (PDF), experts at Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA) and the Association for Community-Affiliated Plans (ACAP) urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to allow ...
Luca-Amine Hadir was 4 days old when his parents raced him to the ER. His mother, Jill McDonald, had wanted her child to have a gentle transition into the world, and Luca’s first four days were just that. He was born at home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, in spring 2020 — Jill, now ...
A major union announced a proposal Thursday to impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in California to address federal funding cuts to health care for low-income people. Proponents, including the Service Employees International Union, hope to place the statewide measure before voters next year. The tax would be on the net worth of California’s ...
Nationwide, states are racing to win their share of a new $50 billion rural health fund. But helping rural hospitals, as originally envisioned, is quickly becoming a quaint idea. Rather, states should submit applications that “rebuild and reshape” how health care is delivered in rural communities, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official Abe Sutton said late ...
The annual enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans for 2026 started today and is set to run until Dec. 7. For employers and their benefits advisors, suspense over just how much chaos will, or won’t, occur could add to their overall level of stress. Medicare basics: Employers use Medicare ...
The directory, intended to help older Americans navigate Medicare Advantage open enrollment, produces conflicting responses about which providers are covered by health plans.
The government health program fights in Washington could hit small employers hard, because government programs provide health benefits for 19% of their workers. Medicaid covers 5% of all U.S. workers and 11% of workers at employers with fewer than 50 employees, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey results posted Thursday. Individual and family plans purchased through the ...
Core programs will keep running because their funding is built into law. But a popular Medicare benefit has already ended, and local health centers may be at risk unless Congress acts soon.
Health care providers across the country are canceling telehealth visits with Medicare beneficiaries or warning patients they will have to pay out of pocket for appointments because Congress let coverage lapse. When government funding expired Sept. 30, so did several health care policies mostly involving payments, and among them are provisions that allowed Medicare to ...