By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. ; CNBC ~ Dec 20, 2017
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that dire warnings of big Medicare cuts as a result of the GOP tax plan are scares tactic by Democrats.
The concern about reductions in Medicare and other federal programs stems from a Senate rule designed to prevent increases in the budget deficit.
By Thomas Phippen; The Daily Caller ~ Dec 20, 2017
Telecom giant AT&T is so pleased with tax reform plan that it will give more than 200,000 employees an extra $1,000 bonus, the company announced Wednesday.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed the Senate Tuesday evening, and was ratified once again by the House Wednesday.
By Bob Sullivan; MarketWatch ~ Dec 13, 2017
If you feel like there’s nothing left at the end of the month, you aren’t alone. A recent Pew study found that 46% of Americans spend more than they make every month. Nearly half!
So where’s all the extra money going?
By David Daikh & Cynthia A. Bradford; The Hill ~ Dec 13, 2017
Congress operates with good intentions; it is the good-faith pact it has with America’s citizens. However, when a well-meaning legislative framework ends up harming those it is meant to help due to flawed implementation, our elected lawmakers must correct course.
By Julie Appleby; Kaiser Health News ~ Dec 13, 2017
Some Americans who froze their credit reports following the big data breach this year at the credit-rating firm Equifax may be in for a surprise if they try to purchase insurance on the federal health law’s marketplaces. That freeze could trigger a delay in the application process.
By Charley Grant; The Wall Street Journal ~ Dec 11, 2017
American hospitals have a target on their backs. The latest merger talk is an attempt to rally their strength, but industry payers’ battle against high health-care costs shows no sign of letting up.
Two major nonprofit hospital chains, Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health, are in talks to combine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday
From KHN Morning Briefing; Kaiser Health News ~ Dec 11, 2017
Consumers are turning to sites such as GoodRx to see if their prices can beat the ones they get through their insurance. And in some cases they’re finding success.
ProPublica and The New York Times: Prescription Drugs May Cost More With Insurance Than Without It Having health insurance is supposed to save you money on your prescriptions.
Out-of-pocket spending including copayments and deductibles increased by 3.9 percent
By Ali Meyer; The Washington Free Beacon ~ Dec 08, 2017
Health care spending in the United States increased by 4.3 percent in 2016, which was 1.5 percentage points faster than the economy grew as a whole, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
From Scott Knoer; Newsweek ~ Dec 06, 2017
From penicillin to vaccines to biologics, pharmaceutical innovation has blessed us with better ways to treat, prevent and even cure disease.
But some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most recent “innovations” have nothing to do with health, other than their own financial health.
From Jamie Hopkins; The Hill ~ Dec 05, 2017
When talking about real estate, you have likely heard the widely used phrase “location, location, location.” What realtors mean by this is that identical homes may have very different prices depending upon location. What this often means to home buyers is that they may have to pay more to live close to work or to be in the best school district.