By Editorial Board; The Washington Post ~ Mar 20, 2016
MEAN OLD Washington is out to get granny again — or at least that’s the impression created by ad campaigns on TV and the Internet, in which seniors warn, in heart-rending terms, of impending “cuts” to the Medicare Advantage program. What’s really going on is pretty routine — though, as is often the case in Washington, routine is not quite the same thing as sensible.
By JoNel Aleccia and Justing Mayo, Seattle Times – March 18, 2016
About half of doctors in top specialties in Washington state accept payments from pharmaceutical firms and medical-device makers, far less than their peers nationwide. But those who take the cash are nearly twice as likely as those who don’t to prescribe brand-name drugs at high rates.
That’s according to an analysis from the investigative journalism organization ProPublica, with cooperation from The Seattle Times, which provides evidence for the first time that doctors who accept payments prescribe drugs differently on average than those who don’t.
By Lydia DePillis; The Washington Post ~ Mar 18, 2016
Amid a flurry of legislation to pass in the final days of spring state legislative sessions last week, nurses won two more victories in a long war for independence.
For decades, most of the country has required physician oversight for nurses to conduct certain procedures, and especially to prescribe drugs. But that’s slowly changing, as the nation’s health-care needs rise, and nurses fight for the right to practice everything they learned in school.
By Matthew Perrone; The Associated Press ~ Mar 18, 2016
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans support it. Virtually all other developed countries already do it. And the two leading presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle agree: the federal government should lower drug prices.
But experts say the chances for government action in the near-term are close to nil. The reasons are familiar: political gridlock in Washington, pharmaceutical industry influence and the structure of the U.S. health system itself, which limits government intervention.
By Michelle Andrews; Kaiser Health News ~ Mar 18, 2016
Medicare beneficiaries may get dinged with higher prescription drug bills this year because more than half of covered drugs in standalone plans require them to pay a percentage of the cost rather than a flat fee, a new analysis found.
Fifty-eight percent of covered drugs in Part D drug plans are subject to “coinsurance” in 2016 rather than flat copayments, the analysis by Avalere Health found. The percentage of drugs requiring coinsurance has climbed steadily, increasing from 35 percent in 2014 to 45 percent last year. That percentage is approaching two-thirds of all covered drugs.
By Barbara Feder Ostrov; Kaiser Health News ~ Mar 17, 2016
Mary Julia Klimenko thought she was prudent 20 years ago when she invested in a long-term care insurance policy, one she believed would help pay for the care she’d need as she aged.
Now she wishes she’d banked the money instead.
Her monthly premiums have nearly quadrupled over the past two years, and Klimenko, now 69, is furious about the choices she’s been given: pay the higher cost, lower her premiums by cutting her policy’s benefits or drop the insurance altogether.
By Michael D. Williamson; Bloomberg BNA ~ Mar 17, 2016
March 16 — Medicare’s fee-for-service program should be reformed to more closely resemble the Medicare Advantage program, the leader of an influential House panel said March 16.
The traditional fee-for-service program is on a trajectory of higher costs and little innovation, while the Medicare Advantage program is based on market principles, House Ways and Means Health subcommittee chairman Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) said at a hearing on preserving and strengthening Medicare.
By Walter Updegrave ; CNNMoney ~ Mar 16, 2016
I have my retirement savings of about $500,000 in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. I’m nearing retirement, however, so I’m not happy with the volatility. It’s been suggested that I switch over to annuities. What do you think? –D.B.
I think you need to proceed with caution. I don’t want to suggest that just because someone recommends annuities he or she is driven solely by the desire to earn a commission or is putting his or her financial interests ahead of yours. On the contrary, I’ve long believed that in certain situations the right type of annuity can play a legitimate role in a retirement portfolio.
By Juliegrace Brufke; The Daily Caller ~ Mar 16, 2016
House Committee on the Budget Chairman Tom Price slammed Democrats for accusation Republicans are threatening seniors’ health care with proposals to reform Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security during a marathon markup of the Republican Fiscal Year 2017 budget blueprint Wednesday.
The “Balanced Budget for a Stronger America” calls for a complete repeal of Obamacare, a stop to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and giving the states more power over their programs by providing them with State Flexibility Funds.
Houston Chronicle ~ Mar 15, 2016
If you thought the pharmaceutical industry couldn’t get any more cynical than the now-infamous price gouging scandals of last year, you would be wrong. When news broke that Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a 62-year-old, life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill, Congress held hearings, the SEC began an investigation, the press suddenly discovered a rash of similar bad behavior in the industry, and the well-worn argument that the marketplace sets a fair price when it comes to health care was badly battered.