The tax on generous health plans — originally envisioned as a way to help pay for the ACA and change consumers’ behavior — has never been implemented, and Congress is considering repeal.
It takes more than an executive order to shift kidney disease patients from dialysis centers to home care. These patients show it takes discipline, skill, will and support.
You asked about drug prices, the “Cadillac tax” on generous insurance plans and why Americans don’t know that most other countries also have combination public-private insurance systems. This week, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Caitlin Owens of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to answer those questions.
Critics worry the delays come at a steep cost: Medicare paying for millions of unnecessary exams and patients subject to radiation for no medical benefit.
Medicare beneficiaries under observation care in the hospital can face higher costs for treatment and are not covered for nursing home care when discharged. A federal trial in Hartford, Conn., will determine whether the government’s ban on appeals involving observation care coverage is fair.
The recent tragic mass shootings have refocused efforts to treat gun violence as a public health issue rather than strictly a law enforcement problem. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus the health implications of the budget deal passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, as well as reaction from Canada to a proposal to allow broader imports of its prescription drugs. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week.
A case of questionable logic.
After journalists investigate, Fresenius, one of the largest dialysis providers in the U.S., has agreed to waive a half-million-dollar bill. Sovereign Valentine, from Plains, Mont., said it’s a “huge relief.”
So-called red flag laws that let police take guns away from people with mental illness have support from both advocates and opponents of gun control. But it won’t alleviate gun violence.
Kelley Watson Snyder, a mother who for years opposed mandatory childhood vaccinations and joined with like-minded parents who espoused similar views, today runs a pro-vaccination Facebook page. What changed?