Medicare Archives

Social Justice

A Major Loophole in the Health-Care Transparency Law: Nurses Don’t Need to Report Their Dealings With Drug Companies

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.

Charles Ornstein

Social Justice

Fraud Still Plagues Medicare’s Prescription Drug Program

Medicare has increased oversight of its prescription drug program but many holes remain, allowing fraud and abuse to proliferate. Questionable practices were found at 1,400 pharmacies, which collectively billed Medicare $2.3 billion in 2014.

Charles Ornstein

Social Justice

How Unauthorized Immigrants Support Legal Users of Medicare

A new study finds unauthorized immigrants create a huge surplus in Medicare by contributing to payroll taxes, but not withdrawing benefits.

Francie Diep

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

News in Brief

Hospitals Are Gouging Uninsured Americans

People without insurance—an estimated 30 million even after Obamacare—face prices up to 10 times higher than Medicare allowances.

Nathan Collins

Education

Disrupting Medical Education

A combination of MOOCs and community-based training sites could result not only in better education for future physicians, but in higher quality, more widely available, and affordable health care for everyone.

Leslie Fall

Social Justice

The Federal Government Finally Releases Data on Doctors’ Prescribing Patterns

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.

Charles Ornstein

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

Should We Pay People to Donate Their Kidneys?

Our supply problem would supposedly be fixed—and we could save money overall—by paying people up to $10,000 to donate a kidney, but are we ready for a society where the disadvantaged are a source of replacement parts for those with means?

Sumit Mohan