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Health Think Tank Crunches Health Prices For The Masses

Ricardo Reitmeyer/iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Health Think Tank Crunches Health Prices For The Masses

May 21, 2012 • In 2010, health spending rose fastest among people 18 and under, according to an analysis of data from private insurers. It's just one finding made possible by a new database.

Shots - Health News

Cost Of Cancer Pills Can Be Hard For Medicare Patients To Swallow

Kaiser Health News

May 15, 2012 • How some insurers pay for treatments means that cancer pills can wind up costing a patient more than an IV. Some states have passed laws to make sure that patients don't have to pay more to take pills. But those laws don't apply to Medicare.

50 Years Of Government Spending, In 1 Graph

Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

Planet Money

50 Years Of Government Spending, In 1 Graph

May 14, 2012 • Of each dollar the federal government spends, how much goes to health care? How much goes to defense? How much goes to other programs? And how has spending changed over time?

We're Headed For A Fiscal Cliff. Should We Jump?

su-lin/Flickr

Planet Money

We're Headed For A Fiscal Cliff. Should We Jump?

April 24, 2012 • Taxes are set to go up for most Americans next year. That's a good thing, Simon Johnson argues.

We're Headed For A Fiscal Cliff. Should We Jump?

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It's All Politics

Social Security, Medicare Reaction Reflects Partisan, Election-Year Divide

April 23, 2012 • The release of the Social Security and Medicare reports became an opportunity for Treasury Secretary Geithner to send voters the message that Obama administration was a staunch defender of the nation's most popular entitlements even though it accepted the need for gradual changes to make the programs more sustainable.

Shots - Health News

Seniors In Medicare 'Doughnut Hole' More Likely To Stop Heart Drugs

April 17, 2012 • Falling into the "doughnut hole" of Medicare drug coverage led people to stop taking medicines for heart conditions more often than to search for cheaper alternatives, an analysis finds. The discontinuations didn't appear to affect health, but the researchers cautioned their study was relatively short.

Tax Aid For Hearing Aids? Maybe

Traditional Medicare doesn't pay for hearing aids, so some in Congress would like to give purchasers a tax break. Marek Brzezinski/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Marek Brzezinski/iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Tax Aid For Hearing Aids? Maybe

Kaiser Health News

April 10, 2012 • Bipartisan bills are pending again in both the House and Senate to give buyers of hearing aids a small tax break. But, once again, it looks as though the legislation has a long way to go before it could become law.

Medicare Boosting Coverage For Mental Health Issues

Medicare coverage for mental health services will reach 80 percent in 2014. DElight/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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DElight/iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Medicare Boosting Coverage For Mental Health Issues

Kaiser Health News

April 3, 2012 • Medicare now covers screening for depression without any cost-sharing when patients visit their primary care doctor. That's a big deal, because the condition often goes undiagnosed in the elderly.

Shots - Health News

Medicare Board Draws Fire Before It Even Meets

Kaiser Health News

March 22, 2012 • The House is expected to pass a bill that would eliminate a board that is charged with reining in Medicare spending. But Democrats generally oppose the change, and President Obama has promised to veto the legislation if it ever gets that far.

Opinion

It's All Politics

Rep. Paul Ryan Stokes New Medicare Fight, This Time In Election Year

March 19, 2012 • House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who proposed a budget last year that was controversial because of radical changes it would have made to Medicare, is making another run at his target. This time he has a Democratic ally, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. But progressive groups were already attacking the plan even before its official release Tuesday.

Shots - Health News

Romney Says No Thanks To Medicare

March 12, 2012 • Now that he's 65, Romney is eligible for Medicare. But he does not want the coverage. If he changes his mind and signs up later, he may have to pay a penalty.

Shots - Health News

Feds Accuse Texas Doctor In $350 Million Medicare Fraud

February 28, 2012 • A Texas doctor and six co-conspirators indicted for an alleged long-running health care scam look to have set a new record for a medical practice: $350 million in fraudulent Medicare bills and $24 million under Medicaid over nearly six years ending in late 2011.

Feds Find Wide Variation In Serious Infections Linked To Catheters

Inattention to catheters used often in ICUs can lead to serious infections. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Feds Find Wide Variation In Serious Infections Linked To Catheters

February 9, 2012 • Patients at hospitals in Maryland, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maine and New Hampshire were most likely to get blood infections caused by central lines, new federal data show. Medicare is gearing up to penalize hospitals with high rates of infections that are caused by the institutions.

Medicare Can't Rescue Congress On Fix For Doctors' Pay

Wendell Franks/iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

Medicare Can't Rescue Congress On Fix For Doctors' Pay

December 22, 2011 • With official Washington trapped in partisan gridlock, doctors who treat Medicare patients are once again facing the prospect of a big cut in pay that almost no one supports.

It's All Politics

PolitiFact's 'Lie Of Year' Put It On Shaky Ground Of Weighing Interpretations

December 21, 2011 • PolitiFact's decision apparently hinged on what the meaning of "end" is which seems to be the source of the problem. PolitiFact's logic, distilled to its essence, is that if a program continues to exist with the same name, albeit in radically changed form, it is inaccurate to describe the original program as having been ended.

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