Category: Health Care Costs

Pelosi Aims For Feds To Negotiate Drug Prices, Even For Private Insurers

A draft plan spearheaded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would allow the federal government for the first time to negotiate prices for 250 drugs for Medicare and apply those prices to all payers, including employers and insurers.

Trump Has Blessed States’ Exploration Of Importing Drugs. Will It Catch On?

Colorado, Florida and Vermont — with the support of President Donald Trump — are exploring plans to bring drugs across the border from Canada to help lower costs.

KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Dems Debate Health Care

Democratic presidential candidates disagreed on how to fix health care in their first debate Wednesday, although they all called for boosting insurance coverage and lowering prices. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is keeping health care in the news, too, with a new plan to make medical prices more available to the public. Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus the latest in news about bipartisan progress on catch-all legislation to address “surprise” medical bills. Plus, Rovner interviews NPR’s Jon Hamilton about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.

Senate Panel Makes Surprisingly Fast Work Of ‘Surprise Medical Bills’ Package

The measure also includes a range of provisions designed to address health care costs.

‘An Arm And A Leg’: Why Are Drug Prices So Random? Meet Mr. PBM

Beware at the pharmacy counter: Your insurance company could be in cahoots with a pharmacy benefit manager — and the negotiations that go on between them are trade secrets.

Fuzzy Math Fuels Sanders’ Claim That Cost Barriers To Health Care Kill 30,000 A Year

There’s a lack of confidence in the number.

Trump Administration Seeks More Health Care Cost Details For Consumers

President Donald Trump ordered the federal government to help consumers benefit from gaining fuller estimates about their health care costs. But whether it will be a game changer depends on the details.

KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Politics Heading Into 2020: Live From Aspen!

How big an issue will health really be in the 2020 election? Will the Republicans find their political footing on the issue? In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times report from the Aspen Ideas: Health festival in Aspen, Colo. Joining them are Chris Jennings, who advised Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on health policy, and Lanhee Chen, who advised GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.

Curing Cancer: Easy Politics, Difficult Science

As the 2020 campaign season kicks off, both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden say they’ll cure cancer. If only it were that simple.

Stem Cell Company Persuades Employers To Steer Workers Toward Controversial Therapy

Regenexx, which runs a string of clinics, says stem cell injections can save employers a lot of money, but critics say there’s no proof.