Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Since the sign-up period began on November 1st, slightly more than 4.1 million people have enrolled in 2019 plans—a significant decline in comparison with previous years.

The update was totally unrelated to the report, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman says.

A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman says the scrubbing was part of "routine updates and maintenance."

The scrubbing is part of a larger effort to weaken the Affordable Care Act, according to one health policy expert.

Though various mentions of it have disappeared from government webpages, the Affordable Care Act remains in effect.

Ten states are seeking to introduce waivers, requiring that Medicaid beneficiaries maintain regular employment in order to continue to receive benefits.

The danger of silence when it comes to end-of-life care.

After insurers helped to torpedo Hillary Clinton’s 1993 health care reform, its lobby sought influence among Democrats through a new kind of Washington firm with ties to the Clintons.

New data on drug and device company payments to doctors largely excludes nurse practitioners and physician assistants, though they play an ever-larger role in health care. One advanced-practice nurse pleaded guilty last month to taking drug company kickbacks.

Congress wouldn’t allow Medicare to pay for benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Ativan until 2013. Now, the medications are among the most prescribed in its drug program.

The move follows an investigation showing that Medicare did little to find dangerous prescribing by doctors to seniors and the disabled. It is also part of the government’s new push to bring transparency to taxpayer-supported medical care.

Medicare’s spending on drugs to treat hepatitis C soared more than 15-fold from 2013 to 2014 as new breakthroughs came to the market, according to previously undisclosed federal data. The drugs cure the disease, but taxpayers are footing the bill.

The findings by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services complement a recent review that found many doctors bill for services very differently than their peers.