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Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
Snippets of news & commentary with a special focus on
health policy, Medicare for All & California
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“Nearly 60 years after Congress barred Medicaid from treating people in what were then derided as insane asylums, lawmakers are on the verge of reversing course.”
‘No Longer the 1960s’: Congress Wants to Treat Drug Users in Mental Hospitals
Politico | Carmen Paun | January 1, 2024
“We’ve been seeing a lot of patients that have no idea that their Medicaid ended….”
More Than 13 Million People Lost Medicaid Coverage This Year, With Texas an Epicenter of the ‘Unwinding’
NBC News | Inyoung Choi, Arleen Aguasvivas, Zinhle Essamuah | December 30, 2023
“Study after study has shown that when private equity, … takes control of sectors of health care, our costs of health care increase and our access and quality of health care outcomes deteriorate.”
Private Equity Hospital Purchase Raises Risks for Patients
Health Justice Monitor | Don McCanne | December 29, 2023
“The pandemic highlighted the need to have coverage for everybody….”
More States Extend Health Coverage to Immigrants Even as Issue Inflames GOP
NPR | Phil Galewitz | December 29, 2023
“The median cost of a year in a private nursing home room in the United States is over $108,000, and a year of formal home care can easily exceed $30,000 at just a total of four hours of care per day.”
Study Finds Long-Term Care Coverage Rare, Costs High
Insurance News Net | Doug Bailey | December 29, 2023
“When we talk to people who are impacted by this, the difference it makes in their lives is something that truly numbers and words cannot even describe….”
California Becomes First State to Offer Health Insurance to All Eligible Undocumented Adults
CalMatters | Kristen Hwang | December 28, 2023
“Medicare Advantage is a prime example of how the insurance industry’s insatiable greed is ruining the American healthcare system … Medicare Advantage overcharges taxpayers potentially by up to 35% or $140 billion, effectively stealing from American patients.”
Medicare Companies ‘Stealing’ $140 Billion From Patients, Democrat Says
Newsweek | Omar Mohammed | December 27, 2023
“…previous studies … had asserted patients of private-equity-owned health care entities pay higher costs, experience reduced staffing levels and, in the case of nursing homes, have higher death rates.”
Patients at Private-Equity-Owned Hospitals Get More Infections and Fall More Often, Says a New Study by Harvard Researchers
NBC News | Gretchen Morgenson | December 26, 2023
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