NPR correspondent Alison Kodjak's mom was admitted to the hospital for four nights after a fall. Because the hospital said she was an outpatient, Medicare wouldn't pay for her rehabilitative care.
An agency that advises Congress recommends a 30 percent reduction in some federal reimbursements to free-standing ERs that are within 6 miles of a hospital.
The measure would allow Medicare to reimburse audiologists for a range of services, including helping patients learn how to use and adjust their hearing aids for different social situations correctly.
Ausberto Maldonado picked corn and asparagus for years on the U.S. mainland before retiring in Puerto Rico. He has diabetes, and as the island's safety net wears thin, he's struggling to survive.
Last month's congressional budget deal included some benefits for Medicare recipients that may reduce their drug expenses and increase the coverage for certain therapies.
The tax reform law passed in December did repeal the Affordable Care Act's penalties for not having comprehensive health insurance. But the penalties are still in effect until 2019.
The Trump administration rolled out a list of actions in its budget proposal to attack drug prices, but most of the measures dance around the edges of the problem.
While the federal health law made insurers cover the full cost of screening colonoscopies, consumers with a history of polyps who need more frequent tests may have to pick up some costs.
Home health firms sometimes turn away Medicare beneficiaries who have chronic health problems by incorrectly claiming Medicare won't pay for their services, say advocates for patients.
Seven states saw a third or more of their hospitals punished under the federal health law's campaign against hospital-acquired conditions. Critics accuse some unscathed hospitals of gaming the system.
Even though congressional Republicans formally set aside their Obamacare repeal-and-replace efforts this summer, there are big policy changes that could become law under pending tax proposals.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine get very specific in their recommendations of actions they think the federal government should take to lower prescription drug costs.
If the former drug company executive is confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Dr. Tom Price, who resigned in September after a scandal involving government travel on private aircraft.
Medicaid covers about two-thirds of nursing home residents across the U.S., and pays significantly less than other types of insurance, including Medicare.
Although the government temporarily waived penalties for certain late enrollees to Medicare, the deal ends Sept. 30, which may not be enough time for many to comply.
The federal health program for seniors and the disabled is removing Social Security numbers from the ID cards of 60 million people in an effort to prevent identity theft
People who live in the Aloha State are less likely to use opioid painkillers or be prescribed antibiotics than are mainland dwellers. Healthy lifestyles have a lot to do with that.
Journalist Bill Moyers once worked as the special assistant to President Johnson, where he witnessed first-hand the political maneuvering that resulted in the landmark health care legislation.
One-third of all Medicare recipients were prescribed opioids last year, the HHS inspector general says, with more than half a million getting high doses for at least three months.
At the lone hospital in Hugo, a country town, staff members know most of the patients — they are friends and family. But cuts in the GOP health bill could threaten this cherished institution.
People who mistakenly stayed on marketplace health plans after they qualified for Medicare may be eligible to have Medicare penalties reduced or waived, if they apply for the waiver by Sept. 30.
While Medicaid is best known as a health care program for poor people, more than 80 percent of its budget goes to care for elderly people, disabled people and children.
One in 9 Medicare enrollees have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and many of them can't afford the inhalers that keep them out of the emergency room.
A former medical director at two Florida insurance companies alleged the companies inflated fees by making patients appear sicker than they were or exaggerating the treatment that was provided.
The administration's proposed budget would cut billions out of health programs at the NIH, CDC and FDA, as well as Medicaid services for children, the elderly and disabled.
