Medicaid Archives

Economics

The Future of Work: Two Tidal Waves, Headed Our Way

The latest entry in a special project in which business and labor leaders, social scientists, technology visionaries, activists, and journalists weigh in on the most consequential changes in the workplace.

Roger W. Ferguson Jr.

Social Justice

Poor Women in the United States Don’t Have Abortion Rights

For decades, the ban on using Medicaid dollars to pay for abortions has kept many poor women from being able to end their pregnancies. Finally, some pro-choice lawmakers are trying to change that—or at least show how unjust the status quo is.

Maya Dusenbery

Social Justice

One Nation, Under Sedation

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.

Charles Ornstein & Ryann Grochowski Jones

Social Justice

The Cost of a Cure

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.

Charles Ornstein

Social Justice

The Patient Safety Movement’s First Big Scandal Finally Has a Resolution

The Justice Department claimed patient safety celebrity Dr. Chuck Denham solicited payments from a drug company to win a prestigious National Quality Forum endorsement for its product.

Marshall Allen

Social Justice

New Rules for Non-Profit Hospitals That Sue Patients

Non-profit hospitals get big tax breaks for providing care for patients who can’t afford it. Under new IRS rules these hospitals must take extra steps to inform poor patients they may qualify for financial assistance.

Paul Kiel

Social Justice

Digging Through the Medicare Data Dump: Billing Outliers Often Have Disciplinary Problems, Too

As news organizations analyze data on Medicare payments, doctors with disciplinary records keep popping up.

Charles Ornstein

Social Justice

Top Billing: Meet the Doctors Who Charge Medicare Top Dollar for Office Visits

Medicare paid for more than 200 million office visits for established patients in 2012. Overall, health professionals classified only four percent as complex enough to command the most expensive rates. But 1,800 providers billed at the top level at least 90 percent of the time. Experts question whether the charges are legitimate.

Charles Ornstein & Ryann Grochowski Jones

Social Justice

Even After Doctors Are Sanctioned or Arrested, Medicare Keeps Paying

An analysis of recently released data shows that dozens of physicians who received payments from Medicare in 2012 had been kicked out of Medicaid, charged with fraud, or settled claims of overbilling Medicare itself.

Charles Ornstein