Health Care

Lawmakers Battle Over Veterans Health Funding

By Yuval Rosenberg

A complicated fight over spending on a veterans health program is throwing a wrench into the congressional appropriations process for 2019. The showdown could force lawmakers to fall back on another...
New Indexes Track Rising Drug Prices

By Yuval Rosenberg

Bloomberg News today introduced price indexes for some of the most common and best-known drugs. The indexes cover 40 of the most widely used treatments across six categories: “diabetes, cancer, HIV,...
Former HHS Secretary Tom Price Wasted More Than $300,000 on Travel

By Michael Rainey

President Trump’s former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price improperly spent at least $341,000 on travel, according to an Inspector General report issued Friday. The IG reviewed 21 trips...
Medicaid Insurers Could Be Doing More to Catch Fraud and Abuse: Report

By Yuval Rosenberg

Medicaid insurers could be doing more to prevent fraud, waste and abuse that cost states billions of dollars a year, according to a new report released by the Office of Inspector General of the...
Some Drugmakers Are Canceling Price Hikes – but Not Because of Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

Pfizer may have decided to roll back drug price hikes after being criticized by President Trump, but Bloomberg reports that several other large drugmakers are canceling or reducing planned price...

What Pfizer’s Drug Price Hike Reversal Really Means

By Yuval Rosenberg

After being publicly blasted by President Trump and then having an “extensive discussion” with him, drug giant Pfizer announced Tuesday that it will roll back the price hikes that took effect July 1...
Democrats Rally Against Threats To The ACA To Block Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee

By Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News

Senate Democrats, who are divided on abortion policy, are instead turning to health care as a rallying cry for opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. Specifically, they are...
Kavanaugh Supreme Court Fight Will Be All About Health Care

By Yuval Rosenberg

The fight over President Trump’s pick of Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is on, with Democrats launching what The Washington Post called “an all-out blitz” to defeat the...
Here’s Who’s Winning the War Over Obamacare

By Yuval Rosenberg

The years-long battles over Obamacare aren’t over yet, but one clear winner has emerged, writes Joanne Kenen at Politico. Health-care consultants are reaping a bonanza. The ingredients are ripe for...
Trump Administration Freezes Obamacare Payments

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration announced Saturday that it will freeze billions of dollars in payments to insurance companies participating in the federal health program established by the Affordable Care...

The 'Biggest Health Care News of the Year'

By Michael Rainey

The Department of Justice said Thursday that it will not defend the constitutionality of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act in a lawsuit currently underway in Texas. Here’s what you need to...
Do Deficit Hawks Have a Snowball’s Chance in Hell in Today’s Politics?

By Michael Rainey

When Starbucks founder and executive chairman Howard Schultz announced his retirement earlier this week, he set off a round of speculation about a possible presidential run in 2020. Schultz has never...
Senate Democrats Look to Hammer GOP on Health Care

By Yuval Rosenberg

Mitch McConnell’s announcement Tuesday that the Senate would cancel most of its August recess was seen as a political blow to Democrats, who would have less time at home to campaign and fund-raise...
Trump Administration Rolls Out Scorecards for Medicaid

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration is rolling out a scorecard that will enable administrators to evaluate individual states on key health metrics for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Seema...
Medicare Finances Worsen, Social Security Will Tap Reserves for First Time in 36 Years

By Yuval Rosenberg

Medicare’s financial problems worsened last year while Social Security still faces a significant long-term financial crunch — and will need to tap into its reserves for the first time in 36 years,...