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☆ Biden and Harris team up for a rare joint appearance in North Carolina to take on GOP over health care
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Arlette Saenz | Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It’s taking place on the heels of a campaign push slamming Trump for threatening to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected to a second term. Dunn argued the GOP plan shows “the Affordable Care Act is still very much under attack by Republican officials.”In contrast, Biden and Harris are expected to highlight the success of the Affordable Care Act and discuss efforts to expand access to health care and lower prescription drugs costs. Biden’s team also hopes the popularity of the Affordable Care Act and proposals to lower health care and prescription drug costs will resonate with voters at the ballot box. More than 45 million people in total have gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act, according to the Biden administration. Roy Cooper had advocated for the Affordable Care Act provision for years, finally convincing the Republican-led legislature to drop its long-standing opposition.

Persons: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, mifepristone, Tuesday’s, It’s, Trump, “, Biden, Harris, ”, Anita Dunn, he’s, Dunn, Roy Cooper, Josh Stein, Mark Robinson, Cooper Organizations: Washington CNN, Raleigh, Democratic, Trump, Marist, Union, Republican, Affordable, White, What’s, American, Children’s Health Insurance, Medicare enrollees, Medicare, Medicaid, Democratic Gov, GOP, Senate, Gov Locations: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia , Wisconsin , Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire, Texas, Southern, Georgia, South Dakota, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi

☆ Analysis: Trump on Social Security cuts and a possible TikTok ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But Trump’s comments on TikTok and Social Security, both in an unfettered interview on CNBC, suggest not calculation, but confusion about Social Security and ambivalence about TikTok. Social Security was a top issue during the Republican presidential primary, when Trump attacked his GOP opponents, accusing them of wanting to take social security benefits away from older Americans. In an ad-libbed and meandering answer during a telephone interview broadcast on CNBC, Trump seemed to suggest that he was open to cutting Social Security. Have you changed your, your outlook on how to handle entitlements Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Mr. President? His answer also did nothing to address Kernen’s larger question, about Social Security and Medicare’s insolvency crisis.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Joe Biden, Biden, Trump, It’s, CNBC’s Joe Kernen, we’ve, Joe Biden’s, Karoline Leavitt, ” It’s, Abby Phillip, Nikki Haley, ByteDance, ” Trump, ” Biden, Brian Fung, Jeff Yass, Steve Bannon, “ Organizations: CNN, Social Security, Trump, CNBC, Social, Republicans, Republican, GOP, ISIS, Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, South Carolina Gov, House Republicans Locations: Trump, TikTok’s China, China, TikTok, Yass

☆ Medicare now negotiating price of drug that costs $7,100 in US vs. $900 in Canada
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The annual list price of Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis, a blood thinner that reduces the risk of stroke, is $7,100 in the US. Johnson & Johnson’s arthritis drug Stelara carries an annual list price of $79,000 in the US. Johnson & Johnson declined to comment on Sanders’ report. Medicare launches drug price negotiationsOther nations typically pay far less for medications, in large part because their governments often determine the cost. Those who have yet to meet their deductible and the uninsured may have to pay the full list price.

Persons: CNN — Sen, Bernie Sanders, Bristol Myers, it’s, Johnson, Sanders, drugmakers, Biden, Donald Trump, Sanders ’, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Organizations: CNN, Bristol, Health, Education, Labor, Pensions, Johnson, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Medicare, Bristol Myers Locations: Japan, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Vermont

☆ Biogen Abandons Its Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug Aduhelm
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Rebecca Robbins | More About Rebecca Robbins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The drug maker Biogen said on Wednesday it would abandon its ownership rights to Aduhelm, an Alzheimer’s drug that had provoked fierce criticism of the company and regulators after it was approved based on weak evidence that it would help patients. The company will also stop a clinical trial that the Food and Drug Administration had ordered to confirm whether the drug is effective in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Biogen’s decision closes out a yearslong saga that generated outrage and eroded trust in the regulatory process for bringing new medicines to market. adviser called the approval of the drug perhaps “the worst approval decision that the F.D.A. has made that I can remember.” A congressional inquiry later found that the F.D.A.’s process for approving Aduhelm was “rife with irregularities” and involved “lapses in protocol,” including unusually close collaboration with Biogen.

Persons: Biogen, Aduhelm Organizations: and Drug Administration

☆ California healthcare provider's move shows pitfalls of Medicare Advantage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Mark Miller | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But Part D prescription drug or Medicare Advantage coverage should be reviewed. Medicare Advantage enrollment has grown quickly over the past decade, partly due to its all-in-one features and lower upfront costs. Medicare Advantage plans can drop healthcare providers from their networks - and that happens when providers and insurers cannot agree on contract terms. The Scripps decision marks a new twist: healthcare systems deciding to drop out of Medicare Advantage. During the annual enrollment period, it is possible to drop Medicare Advantage in favor of traditional, fee-for-service Medicare.

Persons: Scripps, Chris Van Gorder, ”, “, Sophie Exdell, Medigap, Exdell, Mark Miller, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Scripps Health, Diego, Medicare, Scripps, Health Insurance, Program, Reuters, Thomson Locations: San Diego , California, Southern California, San Diego, Connecticut, Maine , Massachusetts, New York, In California

During the enrollment period, which ends Dec. 7, people will have the opportunity to choose between traditional Medicare and privately run Medicare Advantage plans in their area, as well as prescription drug plans. Medicare Advantage plans provided by insurers frequently offer prescription drug coverage , as well as extra benefits like dental or vision coverage not provided by traditional Medicare. The federal government also said Thursday that millions of Social Security recipients will get a 3.2% increase in their benefits next year. The average Medicare beneficiary could choose from 43 Medicare Advantage plans for this year, or more than double the choices available in 2018, according to KFF. After this year’s open enrollment window ends in December, people will be able to switch to another Medicare Advantage plan or opt for traditional Medicare during another enrollment period from Jan. 1 to March 31.

Persons: Tricia Neuman, KFF, Neuman Organizations: Medicare, Medicare’s, Social Security, Services, Social

☆ Opinion | The Aging of America: Facing the Challenges
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:“Can America Age Gracefully?” (Sunday Opinion, Sept. 10) powerfully illuminates how the increasing number of older adults in our country affects everyone, regardless of age, and that, as individuals and a society, we are in denial of our rapidly approaching future. Your editorial concludes by asking: “Is this a challenge we want to handle on our own? Or is it something that we as a society should confront together?”I would argue that the best answer is both. Ageism exists in all of us, and it shapes how we treat older people and how we expect to age. Eighty is not 60, but by being creative and open there are actions we can take to adapt to our new normal.

Persons: ”

Medicare may just be the budget buster that wasn’t. Somehow, after decades of nonstop growth, its spending per person has flattened over the past dozen years, saving taxpayers roughly $3.9 trillion since 2011, according to an Upshot analysis. But the reasons for the slowdown — and its duration — are not well understood. reduced the payments Medicare made to hospitals and to the insurance companies that administer private Medicare Advantage plans. Those changes alone are responsible for more than a trillion dollars in spending reductions, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, or about a quarter of the savings attributable to the recent flat spending trend.

Persons: ” — Stephen Organizations: Affordable Care, Congressional, Office Locations: Columbus , Ohio

A Huge Threat to the U.S. Budget Has Receded. For decades, runaway Medicare spending was the story of the federal budget. Budget news often sounds apocalyptic, but the Medicare trend has been unexpectedly good for federal spending, saving taxpayers a huge amount relative to projections. In a recent letter to the Senate Budget Committee, economists at the Congressional Budget Office described the huge reductions in its Medicare forecasts between 2010 and 2020. Medicare is growing more slowly than ever, but still more quickly than the rest of the federal budget.

Persons: Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, that’s, ”, David Cutler, Cutler, haven’t, I’ve, Melinda Buntin, Buntin, Simpson, Bowles, aren’t, Trump, Joshua Gordon, Mitt Romney’s, “, Sherry Glied Organizations: Medicare, ”, U.S, Budget, Harvard, Obama, Affordable, Senate, Congressional, New York Times, Office, White, Office of Management, Johns Hopkins, Social Security, Congress, Federal, Veterans, NASA, Wagner School Locations: Iraq, Afghanistan, N.Y.U, Washington

☆ Column: US Medicare drug negotiations a good start on bringing down healthcare costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Mark Miller | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

And in 2025, a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket costs for drugs under Medicare Part D takes effect. But drug costs are just one aspect of the healthcare cost problems confronting seniors. Inadequate protection from out-of-pocket costs across the Medicare program also poses a threat. Enrollees in fee-for-service Medicare can appeal direct to Medicare; in Medicare Advantage, the appeal process begins with your specific insurer. She also recommends that enrollees review their monthly statements that explain what healthcare services have been covered.

Persons: Biden, ”, Hector Ortiz, Sarah Murdoch, Murdoch, ” Murdoch, Joe Biden, Mark Miller, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, drugmakers, Medicare, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Seniors, Medicare Rights Center, Center, Reuters, Thomson

☆ Analysis: Biden's IRA climate bill won't cut deficit as expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

The White House estimated, and independent budget analysts agreed, it could cut the deficit by $300 billion over the next decade. The tax credits have been massively popular with companies, spurring new investments and boosting job growth, environmental benefits -- and the price tag. The bill will add $750 billion to the nation’s deficit over ten years, according to Smetters. White House officials say revenue will outpace original congressional estimates, and they point to the millions of jobs the IRA is expected to create. “We’re going to have more deployment and achieve more emissions reductions than we initially thought,” the White House official said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, ”, Kent Smetters, Goldman Sachs, Joe Manchin, Manchin, we've, Joe Biden’s, Tesla, Smetters, ” Smetters, “ We’re, Merck, Jarrett Renshaw, Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell Organizations: White House, Penn Wharton Budget Model, White, Congressional, Credit Suisse, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, U.S, Democrat, Credit, Office, University of Pennsylvania, European Union, EV, Biden, Republicans, CBO, Amazon, Pepsi, Home, Thomson Locations: U.S, Japan

☆ What’s in the Bipartisan Debt Limit Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jim Tankersley | Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The bill also claws back about $30 billion in unspent money from a previous Covid relief bill signed by Mr. Biden, which had been a top Republican priority entering negotiations. Congress must fill them in by passing a raft of spending bills later this year. The agreement between Mr. Biden and Mr. McCarthy attempts to prod Congress to pass all its spending bills and avoid a shutdown, by threatening to reduce spending that is important to both parties. What’s not in the billThe final agreement includes far less reduction in future debt than either side proposed. Mr. Biden wanted to raise taxes on corporations and high earners, and to take new steps to reduce Medicare’s spending on prescription drugs.

The Biden Administration’s signature drug pricing reform, part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), aims to save $25 billion through price negotiations by 2031 for Americans who pay more for medicines than any other country. The first ever Medicare drug price reduction process begins in September, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS) identifies its 10 most costly drugs. Reuters has seen responses to CMS from five of the world's top drugmakers raising legal concerns with the law and the agency's proposed roadmap. Former CMS head Andy Slavitt, who now works at a venture capital company focused on healthcare, said the Medicare agency would have consulted lawyers. One said the Medicare roadmap, which did not go through a formal process with proposed and final rules, could be challenged in court for being unlawful as well.

☆ Weight-Loss Drugmakers Lobby for Medicare Coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Liz Essley Whyte | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illustration: Elizabeth SmelovWeight-loss drugmakers are lobbying Congress to grant them access to a monster payday for their blockbuster treatments: Medicare coverage. New drugs to treat diabetes and obesity are helping people shed pounds and generating huge sales for Novo Nordisk AS and Eli Lilly & Co. But they cost hundreds of dollars a month or more and Medicare doesn’t cover them to treat obesity. The law governing Medicare’s prescription-drug benefit excludes weight drugs. If that changed, demand from the 65 million older and disabled people insured through Medicare could push sales even higher.

Lilly has not previously discussed its Medicare coverage optimism publicly. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Such "coverage with evidence development" requirements are rare and historically used by Medicare to evaluate medical devices. Amyvid, Lilly's Alzheimer's imaging agent that can detect amyloid plaques on PET scans, has been subject to CMS' evidence development program for a decade. "It shuts out many patients," said Dr. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, "especially minorities and rural patients."

☆ Biden to tax high-earners to save Medicare
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will propose raising the Medicare tax on high earners to help keep the federal insurance program solvent as part of his budget to be released on Thursday, the White House said. Biden has sought to link Republicans to the idea of cutting funding for Medicare as part of negotiations over increasing the United States' $31.4 trillion debt limit. Biden has pledged to offer his vision for funding Medicare and challenged Republicans to offer their own. He would also seek to close loopholes that allow high earners to shield some of their income from the tax, the White House said. These additional prescription drug reforms amount to $200 billion in savings over 10 years, the White House said.

☆ Private Medicare Plans Face Tough New Audits That Could Cost Billions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The new rule could prompt Medicare to seek to recover billions of dollars in alleged overpayments from insurers. Federal health regulators said they would implement a tough new standard for auditing the billings of insurers that offer private Medicare plans, the latest sign of stepped-up scrutiny of the companies. Yet the new rule, set to be issued Monday by Medicare’s parent agency, doesn’t go as far as it could have in applying the standard to earlier years.

☆ The Inflation Reduction Act Comes for Medicare
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Casey B. Mulligan | Tomas J. Philipson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden has accused Republicans of scheming to cut Medicare. In fact it is his signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, that will lead to benefit cuts and premium increases for seniors. In 2025, under the Inflation Reduction Act, both government subsidies and out-of-pocket payments by patients are scheduled to be cut sharply. But the statute inhibits this third revenue source, which is also subsidized, from increasing more than 6%. That’s hardly enough to cover inflation, let alone compensate for the other two revenue losses.

☆ The Inflation Reduction Act Is Already Killing Potential Cures
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Joe Grogan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

It may take years before we can fully appreciate the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on the pharmaceutical industry, but we’re already getting signs of the damage. In response, many have canceled drug-development programs, resulting in an unfortunate but predictable loss for patients nationwide. One poorly crafted provision is driving companies away from research into treating rare diseases. The company’s drug is currently marketed as treating only amyloidosis, and thus is exempt from Medicare’s price setting. If Alnylam proceeded with research into treating Stargardt, it would lose its exemption.

☆ Drugmakers Look to Limit Medicare’s New Power to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Drugmakers are trying to blunt Medicare’s newfound power to negotiate medicine prices while coping with internal industry disputes and ebbing influence in Washington, D.C. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress gave Medicare, the country’s biggest buyer of prescription drugs, the authority to negotiate how much it pays for certain high-price therapies, and to get rebates on treatments whose prices rise more than the rate of inflation.

But the Inflation Reduction Act, which represents about a third of the spending, was passed by Democrats alone. The White House is still pushing a more expansive child tax credit that was not included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Here’s a detailed look at what Mr. Biden wanted and what he got:Climate and Environment Proposed $722 billion Passed $509 billionOn climate, the Biden administration got much of what it wanted. Health Care Proposed $563 billion Passed $412 billionOn health care, there were some victories for the president — and much trimming. The family programs were eliminated largely because of concerns from Mr. Manchin about the overall size of what became the Inflation Reduction Act.

☆ What Is a Medicare Advantage Plan, and Should You Sign Up for One?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Alex Janin | Leslie Scism | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The health-plan decisions you make when you become eligible at age 65 could have future health and financial implications. You’re about to be awash in ads for Medicare Advantage plans, the private alternative to traditional Medicare. Evaluating the options can be challenging, but there are steps you can follow to make the best decision for yourself. Medicare’s open enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. Sometimes called “Part C,” Medicare Advantage plans are offered by Medicare-approved private companies.

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