Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

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Medicare Will Target These 10 Drugs for Price Cuts

Biden administration to negotiate 'lowest maximum fair price' for Jardiance, Eliquis, others

(Newser) - The popular diabetes treatment Jardiance and the blood thinner Eliquis are among the first drugs that will be targeted for price negotiations in an effort to cut Medicare costs, reports the AP . President Biden's administration on Tuesday released a list of 10 drugs for which the federal government will...

Pandemic Helps Swell Medicaid Enrollment
Medicaid Rolls Hit
an All-Time High
Jun 22, 2021 4:14 PM CDT

Medicaid Rolls Hit an All-Time High

More than 80 million Americans are covered by the programs designed as a safety net

(Newser) - More Americans are enrolled in Medicaid than ever, new data show, after a jump in signups during the pandemic. Almost 9.9 million people were added to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program between February 2020 and this January, the Wall Street Journal reports, a rise of 13....

Feds: Hackers Hit ObamaCare Server

Malware installed but no data stolen

(Newser) - Hackers managed to breach the ObamaCare website this summer, federal authorities say, but it doesn't sound like they were very ambitious ones: Officials say no data was stolen and servers containing personal information were not accessed, CNN reports. Instead, what appeared to be fairly standard malware was uploaded but...

Government Spent $172M on Penis Pumps
 Government Spent 
 $172M on Penis Pumps 
new report
Jan 14, 2014 11:30 AM CST

Government Spent $172M on Penis Pumps

At double the retail price per pump

(Newser) - Between 2006 and 2011, Medicare spent $172 million on penis pumps, according to a report out Monday by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. That figure is outrageous for a reason other than that you might think. As NBC News reports, penis pumps, more properly...

HealthCare.gov Contractor's Dodgy Past Slipped By Feds

Red flags should have stopped CGI from getting ObamaCare gig

(Newser) - It turns out there were even more reasons the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shouldn't have picked the free-wheeling and allegedly shady CGI Federal to build HealthCare.gov. When CGI was vetted back in 2007, it didn't have any obvious black marks on its record, the Washington ...

ObamaCare Girl: Stop the Cyberbullying

HealthCare.gov's Adriana: 'I didn't make it fail'

(Newser) - A mystery no more: The woman whose face once adorned the ObamaCare website is finally speaking out in an interview with ABC News . Having faced anger over the site and the ridicule of comedians and Photoshop artists, "I'm here to stand up for myself and defend myself and...

Google Engineer Takes Leave to Help HealthCare.gov

Site reliability engineer Michael Dickerson among those recruited

(Newser) - The "tech surge" to fix HealthCare.gov includes some names from the industry's biggest players. Among them, per a Health department blog post , is Michael Dickerson, on leave from his job as a site reliability engineer at Google. He'll be "leveraging his experience stabilizing large, high...

6 ObamaCare Questions for Sebelius as She Hits Hot Seat

She testifies before Congress today

(Newser) - Kathleen Sebelius is testifying before Congress this morning in eagerly anticipated remarks about problem-plagued HealthCare.gov, but you may not hear anything new. Politico reports that her eight pages of prepared testimony are, almost verbatim, the same as the testimony offered to Congress yesterday by head of the Centers for...

Key Part of ObamaCare May Not be Ready in Time

Insurance exchange website misses deadline, may not be secure

(Newser) - Don't hold your breath to start buying health insurance at the federal health exchange in October: it may not be ready in time. The contractor charged with developing security for the Health Insurance Marketplace website has missed its deadline to prove the system is secure, according to a new...

Obama Announcing $1B Health Care Jobs Plan
Obama's Next Hiring Move:
$1B Health-Care Jobs Plan
'we can't wait' campaign
Nov 14, 2011 7:56 AM CST

Obama's Next Hiring Move: $1B Health-Care Jobs Plan

Plan to push innovation, reducing costs, as Congress deadlocked

(Newser) - With a deadlocked Congress still unable to launch any sort of jobs plan , the White House will announce today a $1 billion project for training and hiring health care workers, the latest in President Obama's "We Can't Wait" campaign, reports the Washington Post . The health care jobs...

Breast Cancer Man Denied Coverage Because He's Not Female

2,140 men get breast cancer each year, Medicaid program for women only

(Newser) - Raymond Johnson discovered last month that he was one of the 2,140 men who get breast cancer each year. But when he tried to use the Medicaid-funded Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000 to cover his cancer costs, he found out that he didn't...

Jan Brewer Wants to Charge Medicaid 'Fat Fee'

Arizona governor's plan would charge smokers, obese people $50

(Newser) - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has an idea for how to raise money for the state’s Medicaid program: charge obese people and smokers. Brewer’s proposal would require smokers or obese people who don’t follow a doctor’s weight loss program to pay a $50 fee if they are...

Almost 10% of Medicare Payments Improper

But it's hard to tell how much of that is fraud

(Newser) - The federal government lost around $48 billion to fraudulent and improper Medicare claims last year—which made up nearly 10% of all payments the program doled out, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. And even that figure might be on the low side, because it doesn’...

GOP Gunning for Obama Health Nominee

Blocking appointment is one way to re-open health care debate

(Newser) - Republicans have their knives out for Donald Berwick, President Obama's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid. Berwick, a pediatrician and Harvard prof who runs a nonprofit aimed at cutting hospital errors, as well as costs, is a fan of Britain's single-payer health National Health Service, they note; he once declared...

Prices Jump for Top Drugs
Prices Jump for Top Drugs
Feb 21, 2008 4:45 AM CST

Prices Jump for Top Drugs

Drug giants collect now against expected future losses

(Newser) - Drug companies have slapped a series of huge price hikes on some prescription drugs ahead of drug patent expirations, the Wall Street Journal reports. GlaxoSmithKline has raised the price of antidepressant Wellbutrin 44.5%, while Sanofi-Aventis hiked Ambien's price 70%. Wholesale prices for the top 50 drugs increased an average...

Docs Skimp on Kids' Health Care: Study

Pediatricians provide standard preventive care less than half time

(Newser) - American children are not getting adequate preventive care during most visits to their pediatrician, a new study has found. Doctors skip basic screening tests, weight and measurement checks and some standard care for conditions such as asthma, according to the findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Children in...

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