A few weeks ago, I wrote about the benefits of intermittent fasting for weight loss. In a MindBodyGreen podcast, Courtney Peterson, a nutrient scientist and associate professor at the Harvard T.H...
Diane Archer
Medicare Advantage delivers unreliable coverage
While most older adults and people with disabilities can choose from among 30 or more Medicare Advantage plans offered through around eight different insurers, a new Kaiser Family Foundation report...
Trump tax bill drives up Medicare drug costs
Medicare drug-price negotiation is one of the signature achievements of the Biden administration. The Inflation Reduction Act finally allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for ten to fifteen...
Immediate effects of Trump’s tax bill
A new Senate Finance Committee Democratic memo documents the immediate damaging effects of Trump’s reconciliation bill and provides information on taxpayer-funded slush funds, established to...
Don’t be fooled: Medicare Advantage can be deadly
Today, more than half of older adults and people with disabilities with Medicare are enrolled in a Medicare HMO or other type of Medicare Advantage plan. These plans are run by big corporate health...
Is there a good alternative to prior authorization?
Talk to just about anyone who has had an encounter with our health care system and, most likely, they will tell you about the headaches they faced getting prior authorization. Insurers are...
Commissions: The main reason you should not trust health...
I’ve written before about why you should not trust health insurance agents. As is often the case, the answer lies in financial incentives. In Medicare Advantage, insurance agents earn different...
How to keep insurers from denying Medicare Advantage enrollees...
The federal government allows health insurers to use prior authorization in Medicare Advantage with near impunity. As a result, while health insurers must cover all Medicare benefits, they too often...
Trump’s tax bill means a $500 billion cut to Medicare
David Dayen writes for The American Prospect about the grave consequences of President Trump’s tax bill for older and vulnerable Americans. The bill extends tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy for...
Why women are doubly likely to get Alzheimer’s as men
Women are twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s as men. But, why? It’s not because women live longer, though aging does affect our immune systems and, as a consequence, our mental faculties...