Author's posts
How the Trump Administration Is Browbeating Big Pharma on Drug Prices
Last May, in a highly anticipated speech in the sun-drenched White House Rose Garden, President Trump laid out his long-awaited plan to lower drug prices. Democrats dismissed the proposals as toothless and well short of the president’s campaign promise…
Trump Administration to Push Forward on Medicaid Work Requirements After Court Loss
The Trump administration on Thursday said it would continue approving Medicaid work requirement requests from states, despite a district court ruling last month that blocked such requirements in Kentucky. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar s…
How States Are Defining Essential Health Benefits
Two states so far have taken advantage of the federal government’s decision to give them more leeway in defining the essential health benefits that individual and small-group insurers must offer consumers. Those states — Alabama and Illinois — diverged…
A Vote Expanded Medicaid in Maine. The Governor Is Ignoring It.
Ignoring the binding vote, Gov. Paul LePage has refused to expand the program, blasting it as a needless, budget-busting form of welfare. He vetoed five expansion bills before the issue made the ballot, plus a spending bill this month that provided abo…
Health Care Industry Branches into Fresh Meals, Rides to Gym
Health care is shifting in a fundamental way for millions of Americans. Some insurers are paying for rides to fitness centers and checking in with customers to help ward off loneliness. Hospital networks are hiring more workers to visit people at home …
Meet the Rebate, the New Villain of High Drug Prices
An increasingly popular culprit in the debate over high drug prices is the pharmaceutical rebate, the after-the-fact discounts that form the heart of the nation’s arcane — many would say broken — market for prescription drugs. Now, a growing chorus wan…
Trump Administration, in Reversal, Will Resume Risk Payments to Health Insurers
The Trump administration, in an abrupt reversal, said Tuesday that it would restart a program that pays billions of dollars to insurers to stabilize health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The administration suspended the program …
The ACA’s Innovation Waiver Program: A State-by-State Look
What is the current status of ACA innovation waivers for each state?
Trump’s Top Medicare Official Slams ‘Medicare for All’
The Trump administration’s Medicare chief on Wednesday slammed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ call for a national health plan, saying “Medicare for All” would undermine care for seniors and become “Medicare for None.” The broadside from Medicare and Medicaid adm…
