The Biden administration is trying to make the health care law more generous and closer to its original design, but may disappoint progressive allies hoping for more.
Month: February 2021
Smuggled into the covid-relief bill is an overdue fix for Obamacare
America’s health-care law has never been as popular as its proponents hoped. That could soon change
Nursing homes owned by private equity have higher death rates
Between 2004 and 2016 there were 20,150 excess deaths in American nursing homes, amounting to an estimated 160,000 lost years of life. The cause wasn’t a pandemic, but private equity.
Economists analyzed the mortality of patients in 18,485 nursing homes acquired by private equity companies between 2000 and 2017, versus other forms of for-profit ownership. It found that the likelihood of dying in a nursing home within the first 90 days of being admitted—a measure that’s a pr...
What Does The ‘War’ Over Obamacare Reveal About Our Governing Bodies?
In his new book, The Ten Year War, Jonathan Cohn looks at the intense debate surrounding the Affordable Care Act, the compromises of the law itself, and the ongoing fight for universal health care.
The Ten Year War review: Obamacare, Trump and Biden’s battles yet to come
Jonathan Cohn’s study of the fight for healthcare coverage delivers depth, dish and much for Democrats to ponder
Once upon a time, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was unpopular, viewed by many as welfare redux. Barack Obama’s promise that “If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan”, didn’t exactly work out. By the middle of the 2010s, so-called Obamacare had cost the Democrats both houses of Congress.
Related: The Good American review: Bob Gersony and a better foreign policy
Continue reading...
Low-Value Care Among Medicare Recipients Drops Only Marginally Despite Effort to Curb Practices
Examples of low-value health care include prescribing opioids for acute back pain and antibiotics for upper respiratory infections. Despite efforts to better educate clinicians and discourage wasteful care, spending on such services among Medicare recipients dropped only marginally from 2014 to 2018.
Biden has reopened Obamacare enrollment, but how fast you need to act depends on where you live
Residents of one state don't know whether they can participate in a special enrollment period for federally subsidized health insurance.
...