What big change in health care really looks like

Health care reform is an evergreen topic that keeps thousands of health policy wonks busily wringing their hands. Yet, little meaningful reform ever takes place, while spending continually rises at an unsustainable rate. 

It’s as if we’re watching the famous psychology experiment where participants are so focused on counting basketball passes that they fail to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene. In health care, we’re so fixated on the min...

The nation’s largest physician group is warming up to universal health care

The American Medical Association (AMA) — one of the nation’s most powerful health groups — is warming up to policy ideas that expand the role of government-run health care, thanks to activists trying to change minds from the inside.  

Every year, the country’s largest physician group hosts a meeting to discuss its priorities. The top-line from this year’s annual conference is that the organization will continue its support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while still op...

When is tech in the health sector extremely dangerous? Too many times.

The pharmaceutical industry has recently come under intense scrutiny for driving the opioid epidemic, insurance companies and hospitals are faulted for rising health care costs, and even the insurance “middlemen” (pharmacy benefit managers) recently got called out by President Donald Trump for their role in high drug prices. But a new documentary premiering Friday on Netflix asks audiences to pay attention to a health sector they otherwise wouldn’t: the medical device industry.   

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Work rules, drug tests, and time limits: When the GOP war on welfare comes for Medicaid

Thomas Penister was uninsured for years after serving time in prison. In 2015, he applied for Medicaid coverage to see a primary care doctor as his mental health problems became debilitating. He was relieved to finally discover what was wrong: his doctor diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit disorder, severe sleep apnea (a common nighttime breathing disorder), and anxiety.

Continued treatment of these illnesses allowed him to get his life back, he said...

The Senate is about to vote on a bill that will devastate women and gender minorities’ health care

The new GOP health bill before the Senate — written and largely advocated by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — threatens to devastate the health of millions of women and gender minorities.

Technically, the Graham Cassidy Bill, which will be voted on next week, does not repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that insurance companies cover people with pre-existing conditions. Nor does it allow states to waive that provision. But the bill do...

GOP rushes to pass Trumpcare through irregular order

The next 11 days are critical for health care advocates who are looking to safeguard the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as September 30 marks the deadline for passing an ACA repeal bill with just 50 votes, according to typical Senate rules. But the next two weeks will also be a test of whether lawmakers care about these rules and precedents in the first place.

After repeated failed attempts to repeal and replace the ACA, Republican lawmakers are yet again rushing through a health bill w...

Why is Sen. Cassidy obsessed with Obamacare repeal-and-replace when people who voted for him aren’t?

The Cassidy-Graham bill — the last Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement bill left standing — has a dubious chance of passing. It currently has the same problem past iterations of Republican Senate health bills had: it can’t get 50 votes.

The bill — authored by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — starting in 2020, would repeal ACA subsidies and the Medicaid expansion. Instead, states would be given temporary block grants....

Why turning public health care into ‘block grants’ can’t work

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Wednesday — the last GOP plan left standing.

The chances for the bill to pass are slim to none. It needs to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and cleared by the Senate parliamentarian — the designated health care referee — to see if it adheres to budget rules. Additionally, many critical lawmakers have said that the Senate needs ...