The end-of-life benefit costs billions a year. A new approach aims to eliminate waste and weed out bad actors, while making the care more inviting to those who most need it.
Policymakers will need to patch the Social Security program by 2033 to avoid draconian cuts in benefits, a year earlier than had been predicted. A trust fund for Medicare will run out of cash by 2031.
As the White House and Republicans in Congress gear up for negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling, how to pay for senior health care could be a sticking point, even if cuts are "off the table."
They came to tell Congress about their "recovery plan" for physicians, which includes a Medicare pay boost and an end to some frustrating insurance company requirements.
Politicians are again pointing fingers over cutting Medicare. Any party accused of threatening the program tends to lose elections, but without a bipartisan agreement, seniors stand to lose the most.
Medicare suddenly stopped paying for the pricey drug that prolongs his life. As he waits for an appeal, this retired physician wonders if he should give up treatment to spare his family the cost.
Drugmakers will be required to pay Medicare back for price increases that outpace inflation. The industry is expected to put up a fight over implementation.
Democrats want Georgia to join 38 other states in expanding the state-federal Medicaid health insurance program to cover all able-bodied adults. To press that point, Democratic Gubernatorial nominee for governor, Stacey Abrams, opened her campaign at the site of a rural Georgia hospital that had closed.
The Inflation Reduction Act gives Medicare historic new powers to limit prescription drug prices. But the pharmaceutical industry is already lobbying to dull their impact.
Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications in fall is no bargain after prices go up as much as 8% by winter.
