In the wake of the federal government’s November, 2017 decision to eliminate the individual mandate to buy health insurance effective in January, 2019, the California Association of Health Plans is urging state leaders to enact a state-based individual mandate as a way to stabilize California’s health care marketplace and protect the significant gains California has made under the

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday that value-based healthcare "needs to accelerate dramatically" in the U.S., calling for a range of changes to the healthcare system that he said would provide more tools to give consumers more control over their care.

The pharmacy giant issued $40 billion of investment-grade debt in a nine-part offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. That’s surpassed only by Verizon Communication Inc.’s $49 billion offering in 2013 and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s $46 billion sale two years ago.

Speaking at the Federation of American Hospitals convention in D.C.,Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar laid out a series of actions the administration will take that are aimed at lowering health care costs, and warned that it wouldn’t be deterred by powerful special interests.

As policymakers and the administration focus on high drug prices, the brand drugmaker lobby has responded by unleashing millions of dollars in an attempt to shift blame.

The surgery went fine. Her doctors left for the day. Four hours later, Paulina Tam started gasping for air.