Mary Agnes Carey has covered health reform and federal health policy for more than 15 years as an editor at CQ HealthBeat, as Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for Congressional Quarterly and at Dow Jones Newswires.
The Obama administration is proposing several changes to the Medicare drug program, also known as Part D. They range from new limits on the number of plans insurers could offer consumers to new rules about what drugs those plans must cover. The plan also would prohibit exclusion of pharmacies from a plan’s “preferred pharmacy network” […]
Medicare’s prescription drug program was controversial when it arrived, but a decade later it is widely considered to be a Washington success story. Now, though, the Obama administration is proposing a series of significant changes to fix what critics say isn’t broken. Administration officials say they want to help beneficiaries make good choices and save […]
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Medicare Advantage plans could see payment reductions of 1.9 percent next year under proposed rates announced Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Insurers, who have led a fierce lobbying campaign against payment reductions, have said the combination of the health law’s lower payment rates, new fees on health plans and other factors, […]
The bipartisan leadership of three Senate and House committees introduced legislation Thursday to overhaul the way Medicare pays physicians. The package, which does not specify how it would be paid for, would repeal the current system, which sets Medicare physician payment rates through a 1997 formula based on economic growth and known as the “sustainable growth […]
After years of legislative wrangling and last-minute patches, expectations are high among physician groups, lawmakers and Medicare beneficiaries that Congress could act this year to permanently replace the current Medicare physician payment formula. While committees in both chambers have approved their own “doc fix” proposals, the approaches have yet to be reconciled, and none have […]
Open enrollment season begins Monday for the approximately eight million federal workers and their dependents who receive health care coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program or FEHB. The 2010 health law calls for some changes in that coverage. Below are some frequently asked questions and answers about how the measure will impact federal […]
The Democratic And Republican leaders of two key congressional committees have agreed on a framework to scrap the problematic Medicare payment formula for physicians and replace it with one that would link physician reimbursement to the quality of care provided, a step that could put an end to the annual “doc fix” debate. The discussion […]
With the administration's new announcement, consumers can wait until March 31 – when the current enrollment period ends -- to enroll and not face fines.
The deal President Barack Obama, Republican and Democratic lawmakers reached to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling includes a bipartisan panel charged with producing a long-term budget agreement. President Barack Obama discu...
One provision of the Senate's emerging deal to reopen the federal government and extend the federal debt ceiling includes a one-year delay of a tax to help provide relief to insurers which cover large numbers of high-cost medical cases. Here are ...
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
As Republicans and Democrats have battled over reopening the federal government and raise the federal debt ceiling, one idea that keeps coming up is a repeal of the 2010 health law's tax on medical devices. While the idea has drawn support from me...
In a move one leading health law expert has described as “intimidation,” 15 Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are asking recipients of the $67 million in health law navigator grants to brief the panel on how they intend to spend the money. The Aug. 29 letter directs the grantees to schedule a meeting no later than […]
President Barack Obama’s budget proposals cause a lot more heartburn for pharmaceutical manufacturers than the $80 billion in fees and other concessions over 10 years that the industry agreed to as part of the Affordable Care Act negotiations, sa...
The Obama administration Tuesday announced a one-year delay in the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees offer coverage to their workers or pay a penalty. Administration officials said the delay was in respon...
Some lawmakers and children's health advocates who supported the 2010 health law now find themselves at odds with the Obama administration over an idea that initially seemed simple – expanding coverage for kids' dental care. They say that without...
