-
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services backed off from a plan that could have curtailed access to a type of surgery known as DIEP flap. Breast cancer patient advocates are relieved.
-
Private Medicare Advantage health plans are increasingly ending coverage for skilled nursing or rehab services before medical providers think patients are healthy enough to go home, doctors and patient advocates say.
-
More than half of uninsured kids qualify for free coverage but don't know it. The government has released $49 million to get the word out, especially as the end of the COVID health emergency looms.
-
The Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office say seniors enrolled in the program are suffering and taxpayers are getting bilked for billions of dollars a year.
-
The Biden administration is considering whether Medicaid, which pays the bills for 62% of nursing home residents, should require that most of that funding be used to provide care, rather than for maintenance, capital improvements, or profits.
-
Hospitals in the region say most of their staff have received COVID-19 vaccines. Those that haven't could face penalties.
-
Private and public employers are increasingly using the government’s Medicare Advantage program as an alternative to their existing retiree health plan and traditional Medicare coverage. As a result, the federal government is paying the “overwhelming majority” of medical costs, according to an industry analyst.
-
Almost a year after the American Rescue Plan Act allocated what could amount to $25 billion to home and community-based services run by Medicaid, many states have yet to access much of the money due to delays and red tape.
-
The administration is ending several Trump-era policies that restricted enrollment. Federal officials say states can no longer charge premiums to low-income residents enrolled in Medicaid and have ruled out work requirements.
-
Among the 764 hospitals hit with a 1% reduction in payments for having high numbers of infections and avoidable complications are more than three dozen Medicare ranks among the nation's best.