Financial Issues: Medicare Coverage

The Palm Beach County Medical Society (PBCMS) has announced that, through its "Project Access," it will host Free Events on November 1 and 2 to help residents of Palm Beach County, Florida find health insurance programs for which they may qualify. T...

Apparently some seniors on Medicare have expressed confusion or concern about whether the new Health Insurance Marketplace (also referred to as a health care exchange) being implemented under the Health Care Law affects Medicare in any way. It does no...

Two new Harvard studies published May 6 in the journal HealthAffairs have examined the causes of a dramatic slowdown in the growth of health care spending that the U.S. has experienced in recent years. They have concluded that the spending slowdown...

The Center for Medicare Advocacy, a non-profit organization "that provides education, advocacy and legal assistance to help older people and people with disabilities obtain fair access to Medicare and necessary health care," issued a statement on Wedne...

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new report on February 7, 2013, showing that during 2012, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which some call "Obamacare") has saved 6.1 million people on Medicare more than...

A U.S. Federal District Court in Vermont on January 24 approved a settlement agreement reached between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and plaintiffs in a pending litigation matter, which may help all Medicare patients with chron...

In an editorial published by the Huffington Post on January 24, 2013, John Geyman, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, makes a case that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) only goes part of the way...

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced proposed new rules implementing three key areas of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (which some call "Obamacare"). The proposed rules were officially published in the Feder...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has entered into a proposed settlement of a lawsuit in which HHS agreed to revise portions of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual to stop the long-standing practice of denying Medicare Skilled Care...

In a health policy paper published on October 11, 2012 in The Lancet medical journal, US and UK experts on healthcare policy who co-authored the article conclude that, even though the US and UK healthcare systems are often thought of as polar opposites...

On its website, Medicare.gov, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides links to comprehensive information on what Medicare covers under each of its different Parts. Here are links to Medicare coverage information, as provid...

The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) announced today that Social Security benefits will increase by 1.7% in 2013, as a result of a cost-of-living adjustment. The 1.7% increase will benefit nearly 62 million Americans receiving Social Securi...

The Medicare Open Enrollment period runs from October 15 through December 7, 2012, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Friday. This is the period when all pe...

So far, much of the punditry and commentary following the first U.S. Presidential Debate, which took place Wednesday, October 3 in Denver, has focused on the style, optics, and mannerisms of the candidates -- not on the substance of what they said. ...

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Thursday awards of funding to seven organizations selected to partner with CMS and 145 nursing homes in seven different states in a new pilot program aimed at improving quality of car...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report on Friday, September 21, projecting that the average person with traditional Medicare will save $5,000 from 2010 to 2022 because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ...

On the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins September 15, Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius issued a Statement, reaffirming the commitment of HHS and the Obama Administration to reducing the disparities in health care...

The U.S. centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on August 21 that it has launched a redesign of its Medicare.gov website, in order to better serve Medicare Beneficiaries and their families. The redesign, CMS said, "mak[es] conten...

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced a new tool to help you find out how the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (President Obama's signature Health Care Law - which some call "Obamacare") is benefiting people in your s...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a press release yesterday announcing that because of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (President Obama's signature health care law), nearly 5.4 million seniors and people with disa...

Family caregivers -- the vast majority of whom are women -- may be surprised at the positions Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's choice for his running mate, has consistently taken on women's health and reproductive rights issues. Recent news repo...

By selecting Paul Ryan as his running mate, former Governor and Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has taken action that backs up and gives teeth to his previous endorsements of the Ryan Budget Plan and his promise to sign it into law if he were electe...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that it has formed partnerships with several pharmacies to help inform and educate seniors and others on Medicare about the several new benefits that are made available to them by t...

A recent study published in the journal HealthAffairs found that people on Medicare were substantially happier with their coverage and reported significantly fewer cost and access-related problems than those with private employer-sponsored health insur...