In a non-evidence based piece on payments to Medicare Advantage plans, which cost substantially more per enrollee than traditional Medicare, the Commonwealth Fund reported on the views of five...
Diane Archer
Medicare hospital star-ratings are a farce
Every year, Medicare penalizes hospitals that underperform. This year, it penalized 764 hospitals because they had high rates of patient infections and complications that could have been avoided...
More than one in four older adults skip care because of cost
In two separate surveys, one of older adults and one of their caregivers, Fair Health looked at whether costs were impeding access to care for older adults and how much older adults know about their...
Prior authorization in Medicare Advantage harms patients...
MedPage Today reports on a poll finding that prior authorization requirements in managed care plans, such as Medicare Advantage, lead to patients needing hospitalization, becoming disabled or dying...
Biden administration will decide any day whether to reduce the...
David Dayen writes for The American Prospect on the question of whether the Biden administration will to do what it can to reduce prescription drug prices. It has the power to reduce the price of...
HIPAA and why you need a health care proxy
In 1996, more than 25 years ago, Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which aims to safeguard people’s private health care information. Keeping people’s...
Mark Cuban launches low-cost drug pharmacy
The big news this week on the drug pricing front is that Mark Cuban has launched a low-cost generic drug pharmacy. Helaine Olen reports for The Washington Post that Cuban will charge just the cost of...
CMS intends to increase overpayments to MA plans
Inexplicably and inexcusably, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a notice that it plans to increase overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans by 7.98% in 2023, Modern Healthcare...
Biden administration proposes greater accountability from...
For years, the federal government has paid Medicare Advantage plans and Part D prescription drug plans hundreds of billions of dollars to cover Medicare benefits, demanding little transparency and...
Coronavirus: Medicare to cover at-home rapid tests
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that Medicare will cover Covid-19 at-home rapid tests beginning this Spring. Tests will be available from pharmacies at no cost. This...