Aging
Good News For Boomers: Medicare’s Hospital Trust Fund Appears Flush Until 2030
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which finances about half the health program for seniors and the disabled, won’t run out of money until 2030, the program’s trustees said Monday. That’s four years later than projected last year and 13 years later than projected the year before […]
Medicare Experiment Could Signal Sea Change For Hospice
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Diane Meier is the director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, a national organization that aims to increase the number of palliative care programs in hospitals and elsewhere for patients with serious illnesses. Meier is also a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn […]
First Look At Medicare Quality Incentive Program Finds Little Benefit
One of Medicare’s attempts to improve medical quality –by rewarding or penalizing hospitals — did not lead to improvements in the first nine months of the program, a study has found. The quality program, known as Hospital Value-Based Purchasing, is a pillar of the federal health law’s campaign to use the government’s financial muscle to […]
For Aging Inmates, Care Outside Prison Walls
This copyrighted story comes from Stateline, the daily news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts. (Learn more about republishing Stateline content) Providing health care to an aging prison population is a large and growing cost for states. Not only do inmates develop debilitating conditions at a younger age than people who are not incarcerated, but […]
Government Streamlining Medicare Coverage For Cancer Test
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Medicare beneficiaries may get speedier coverage for a newly approved screening test for colorectal cancer under a pilot project in which two federal agencies reviewed the product at the same time instead of one after the other. The Cologuard test, which detects the presence of DNA mutations […]
In Study, Questions About Who Should Perform In-Office Surgeries
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) One of the hopes embedded in the health law was to expand the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in addressing the nation’s shortage of primary care providers. But a new study questions whether that’s actually happening in doctors’ offices. Of the more than 4 […]
Operator? Business, Insurer Take On End-of-Life Issues By Phone
This story is part of a partnership that includes WHYY’s Newsworks, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) Imagine you’re at home. Maybe that’s in Florida, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, wherever. You have cancer. You just had another round of chemo, and the phone rings. From her cubicle at Vital Decisions […]
CBO Projects Lower Medicare and Medicaid Costs
Reduced costs for medical services and labor have trimmed the 10-year projected cost of Medicare and Medicaid by $89 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Medicare spending is projected to drop by $49 billion — or less than 1 percent — from 2015 and 2024, while Medicaid spending is expected to drop by $40 […]
Calif. Bill Would Protect Estates Of Many Who Received Medicaid
This story is part of a partnership that includes Capitol Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) A bill passed by the California legislature this week is putting Gov. Jerry Brown in a delicate position: Sign the measure and support consumer demands for a change in the state’s […]
You’re Being Observed In The Hospital? Patients With Private Insurance Better Off Than Seniors
This KHN story also ran in . It can be republished for free. (details) An increasing number of seniors who spend time in the hospital are surprised to learn that they were not “admitted” patients — even though they may have stayed overnight in a hospital bed and received treatment, diagnostic tests and drugs. Because […]