Kaiser

Hospitals

Buy and bust: When private equity comes for rural hospitals

Private equity investors, with their focus on buying cheap and reaping quick returns, are moving voraciously into the U.S. health care system; investments increased twentyfold from 2000 to 2018, and have only accelerated since. Financially distressed rural hospitals are targets, putting vulnerable communities at the mercy of firms whose North Star is profit, rather than patient health.

Kaiser

Pfizer CEO pushes annual Covid shot, but experts disagree

When Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said March 13 that all Americans would need a second booster shot, it struck many covid experts as a self-serving remark without scientific merit. It also set off spasms of doubt over the country’s objectives in its fight against the coronavirus. The decision on how often and widely to vaccinate […]

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Policy, Devices & Diagnostics, Payers

If Congress adds dental coverage to Medicare, should all seniors get it?

William Stork needs a tooth out. That’s what the 71-year-old retired truck driver’s dentist told him during a recent checkup. That kind of extraction requires an oral surgeon, which could cost him around $1,000 because, like most seniors, Stork does not have dental insurance, and Medicare won’t cover his dental bills. Between Social Security and […]

BioPharma

Majority wants Medicare to be able to negotiate drug prices

Large majorities regardless of party identification and age found the following argument convincing: “Those in favor say negotiation is needed because Americans pay higher prices than people in other countries, many can’t afford their prescriptions, and drug company profits are too high.”