Breaking News in Healthcare Reform

 

Snippets of news & commentary with a special focus on

health policy, Medicare for All & California

 

 

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“…you can … end up … having to pay a higher health insurance premium, because your employer decided to scale back its contributions.”

Americans Lost 10% of Their Salaries in 2023 Thanks to Cuts in Employer 401(k) Contributions, Medical Insurance & Other Benefits

Yahoo Finance | Tina Nazerian | December 4, 2023

“Starting Friday, the specialized CARE Court in Norwalk allows judges to hear from petitioners who are trying to get treatment and services for people suffering from a severe mental illness.”

CARE Court Offers Help for Homeless with Mental Illness and Opens in LA County

KCAL News | Julie Sharp | December 1, 2023

“…these consolidated companies increasingly have monopoly power in markets around the country or — in the case of companies with a stake in different parts of the health system — can elbow out competitors.”

A Rumored Merger Would Create Yet Another Health Care Titan

Axios | Caitlin Owens | December 1, 2023

“Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are encouraging seniors and other members of the public to become fraud detectives by reporting misleading or deceptive sales tactics to 800-MEDICARE….”

Uncle Sam Wants You … To Help Stop Insurers’ Bogus Medicare Advantage Sales Tactics

KFF Health News | November 30, 2023

“The Biden administration for the first time will allow all schools to order free COVID-19 tests from the federal government ahead of the holidays….”

Scoop: Biden Administration Sending Free COVID Tests to Schools

Axios | Tina Reed | November 29, 2023

“’The slowness in the recovery has a lot to do with systemic US health disadvantage, which was already claiming lives before the pandemic,’ said Dr. Steven Woolf.”

US Life Expectancy Rebounded in 2022 But Not Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

CNN | Deidre McPhillips | November 29, 2023

“As the largest MA provider in the country, UnitedHealthcare recently released a new coverage policy for hospital services effective January 1, 2024, that blatantly violates Medicare’s revised coverage criteria for inpatient hospital care.”

Hospitals Push Back Against Medicare Advantage Plans

Chief Healthcare Executive | Ron Southwick | November 28, 2023

“This pushback – anti-human rights, anti-democratic, anti-gender equality – has put our work under threat….”

AIDS Response ‘Under Threat’ Amid Human Rights Backlash – UN

Reuters | Jennifer Rigby | November 28, 2023

“Biden authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to use powers under the act to enable investments in ‘essential medicines’….”

Biden Invokes Cold War-Era Measure to Boost Medical Supplies

Reuters | Steve Holland, Jason Lange | November 27, 2023

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