Medicare

Casa de Salud clinicians, staff and health apprentices socially distance outside their New Mexico clinic. The facility is one of many social safety net clinics that haven't yet received pandemic-related funding and are now on the brink financially.

Health & Safety

Medicaid Clinics And Doctors Have Been Last In Line For COVID-19 Relief Funding

5:00am May 18, 2020

by Julie Rovner

Congress authorized $100 billion to reimburse health care providers for losses linked to the pandemic, but much of that money has gone for Medicare patients, with low-income families left behind.

The for-profit hospice industry has grown, allowing more Americans to die at home. But few family members realize that "hospice care" still means they'll do most of the physical and emotional work.

Health & Safety

Patients Want To Die At Home, But Home Hospice Care Can Be Tough On Families

11:07am January 21, 2020

by Blake Farmer

The for-profit hospice industry has grown, allowing more Americans to die at home. But few family members realize that "hospice care" still means they'll do most of the physical and emotional work.

Queue Listen Now

Medicare's overhauled Plan Finder debuted at the end of August. But health care advocates and insurance agents say the website has had big problems ever since, including inaccurate details about prices, which drugs each plan covers and their dosages.

Health & Safety

Will Glitches In Medicare's 'Plan Finder' Leave Some Seniors Stuck In The Wrong Plan?

8:19pm December 06, 2019

by Susan Jaffe

With a deadline for Medicare enrollment looming, some lawmakers and advocates are concerned that Medicare hasn't done enough to reach out to consumers who might be affected by website problems.

Health & Safety

Whistleblower Alleges Fraud At A Large Medicare Advantage Plan In Seattle

5:00am October 18, 2019

by Fred Schulte

As the Trump administration calls for expanding access to Medicare Advantage, a federal whistleblower lawsuit accuses a large Medicare Advantage plan of bilking Medicare out of $8 million.

President Trump signed an executive order requiring changes to Medicare on Oct. 3. The order included some ideas that could raise costs for seniors, depending how they're implemented.

Health & Safety

Some Parts Of Trump's Executive Order On Medicare Could Lead To Higher Costs

7:10am October 08, 2019

by Julie Appleby

Reviving ideas that were argued over in the 1990s, Trump's new order on Medicare could have some unintended consequences, depending how it's implemented.

While prescriptions for durable medical equipment, such as orthotic braces or wheelchairs, have long been a staple of Medicare fraud schemes, some alleged scammers are now using telemedicine and unscrupulous health providers to prescribe unneeded equipmen

Health & Safety

Phone Scammers And 'Teledoctors' Charged With Preying On Seniors In Fraud Case

5:01am October 07, 2019

by Victoria Knight

Officials warn that schemes devised to steal from Medicare have embraced telemedicine. One man was prescribed $4,000 of medical equipment he didn't need and never asked for.

President Trump greets supporters after arriving at Florida's Ocala International Airport on Thursday to give a speech on health care at The Villages retirement community. In his speech, Trump gave seniors a pep talk about what he wants to do for Medicare

Targeting 'Medicare For All' Proposals, Trump Lays Out His Vision For Medicare

5:42pm October 03, 2019

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Speaking from a retirement community in Florida, the president gave seniors a pep talk about what he wants to do for Medicare, contrasting it with plans of his Democratic rivals.

Missouri resident Patricia Powers had no health insurance when she was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago; she and her disabled husband were struggling to get by on, at most, $1,500 a month. If they'd lived across the river in Illinois, she'd have bee

State Border Splits Neighbors Into Medicaid Haves And Have-Nots

9:11am October 01, 2019

by Laura Ungar

On the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, many families struggling financially can get health care, thanks to Medicaid expansion. Meanwhile, their neighbors on the Missouri side don't qualify.

In the alleged scheme, Medicare beneficiaries were offered, at no cost to them, genetic testing to estimate their cancer risk.

U.S. Justice Department Charges 35 People In Fraudulent Genetic Testing Scheme

8:32pm September 27, 2019

by Patti Neighmond

Doctors, labworkers and telemarketers from around the U.S. were among those arrested in the investigation of a scheme that the DOJ alleges defrauded seniors and Medicare.

A pharmacist collects packets of boxed medication from the shelves of a pharmacy in London, U.K. A proposal announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday would allow the government to directly negotiate the price of 250 U.S. drugs, using what the drugs

Health & Safety

How An 'International Price Index' Might Help Reduce Drug Prices

5:28pm September 19, 2019

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Drugmakers hate the idea. But Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump both say pegging the prices of U.S. medicine to what people elsewhere pay could save U.S. patients a bundle. Here's how an "IPI" might work.