via twitter.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a bold plan to improve care to patients with kidney disease, which he claimed would save thousands of lives each year and billions of dollars for taxpayers.
“It could be higher if it works the way we anticipate,” Trump boasted in a 25-minute speech to dozens of kidney patients, their families and kidney care providers in Washington.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
We have added this to our Trump administration timeline which keeps track of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and health care news.
Join us at 1pm EDT for Behind the Headlines as we discuss:
- White House attempts to sabotage ACA.
Watch the broadcast live by clicking here.
A panel of federal appeals judges aggressively questioned whether Obamacare can survive during Tuesday afternoon oral arguments in a case that could upend the 2010 health care law.
Two Republican appointees on the three-judge panel frequently interrupted attorneys to question whether the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and if not whether the entire law could stand without it. The ACA’s future appeared murky after two hours of oral arguments at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it’s not clear if the judges were ready to uphold a federal judge’s earlier decision invalidating the law.
via Politico.
Related Reading:
What ACA Repeal Means for Seniors.
Here are just a few of the real-life benefits millions of seniors in Medicare would lose immediately if Republicans have their way and repeal the Affordable Care Act:
- No out-of-pocket costs for preventive services like colorectal and mammogram screenings and annual wellness visits
- 50% discount for brand name drugs purchased while in the Part D donut hole, leading to the closure of the donut hole entirely
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
- Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
- Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
- Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
- Medicare Fraud, Waste and Abuse.
Obamacare’s future will once again be at stake Tuesday when a federal appeals court considers a Trump-backed lawsuit aimed at scrapping the health care law in the heat of the 2020 election cycle.
The court will hear oral arguments on whether the Affordable Care Act is no longer valid after Congress eliminated the tax penalty for not purchasing health insurance. The lawsuit, brought by 18 Republican-led states, could jeopardize health care coverage for more than 20 million people insured through the 2010 health care law, eliminate insurance protections for preexisting conditions, and severely disrupt the country’s $3.5 trillion health care system.
via Politico.
Related Reading:
What ACA Repeal Means for Seniors.
Here are just a few of the real-life benefits millions of seniors in Medicare would lose immediately if Republicans have their way and repeal the Affordable Care Act:
- No out-of-pocket costs for preventive services like colorectal and mammogram screenings and annual wellness visits
- 50% discount for brand name drugs purchased while in the Part D donut hole, leading to the closure of the donut hole entirely
- $700 in covered drug costs for the average senior would be lost and the sickest seniors would face $3,600 in additional out-of-pocket costs
- Reduction of billions in overpayments to private insurers in Medicare and a new requirement that 85% of every dollar is spent on healthcare rather than costs/profits
As they push a federal court to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump administration lawyers are arguing the law is no longer workable because Congress eliminated a penalty on people who don’t have health insurance.
But for months, senior administration officials and lawyers have been making the exact opposite case in other settings, a review of government reports, court filings and public statements made by Trump appointees shows.
In fact administration officials, including White House economists, this year repeatedly have hailed the strength of insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 law.
via Los Angeles Times.
Related Reading:
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced. Improvements made in the ACA to Medicare preventive services and prescription drug coverage have lowered the out-of-pocket costs of millions of seniors.
![What did the President say about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or health care?Our timeline will keep you updated [click here to view it]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3fb59ee8baa1bd4d282dbff25fed7009/tumblr_pt1te0rnpb1qd3gmvo1_1280.png)
What did the President say about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or health care?
Our timeline will keep you updated [click here to view it]
via twitter.
Related Reading:
What ACA Repeal Means for Seniors.
- No out-of-pocket costs for preventive services like colorectal and mammogram screenings and annual wellness visits
- 50% discount for brand name drugs purchased while in the Part D donut hole, leading to the closure of the donut hole entirely
- $700 in covered drug costs for the average senior would be lost and the sickest seniors would face $3,600 in additional out-of-pocket costs
Trump 2020 Budget Shortchanges Seniors.
As President Trump prepares to kick off his bid for a second term this week, he is anxiously searching for a way to counter Democrats on health care, one of their central issues, even though many of his wary Republican allies would prefer he let it go for now.
Since he announced his previous run four years ago, Mr. Trump has promised to replace President Barack Obama’s health care law with “something terrific” that costs less and covers more without ever actually producing such a plan.
Now he is vowing to issue the plan within a month or two, reviving a campaign promise with broad consequences for next year’s contest. If he follows through, it could help shape a presidential race that Democrats would like to focus largely on health care.
via New York Times.
You can stay on top of this issue by signing up for our free newsletter, Your Morning Read, by clicking here.
via twitter.
Related Reading:
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
Improvements made in the ACA to Medicare preventive services and prescription drug coverage have lowered the out-of-pocket costs of millions of seniors. Below are some of the ways that the Affordable Care Act is helping seniors.
via twitter.
Related Reading:
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
- Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
- Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
- Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
- Medicare Fraud, Waste and Abuse.
House Democrats pushed through legislation Thursday to lower prescription drug prices, strengthen the Affordable Care Act and — most significantly — position themselves as the party on the side of health-care consumers as the 2020 election approaches.
The 234-to-183 vote, with every Democrat and five Republicans casting ballots in favor, gave a partisan hue even to three strategies to boost the availability of generic drugs that initially attracted GOP support. Those were merged, however, with measures that would block several Trump administration policies that Democrats characterize as “sabotaging” the ACA.
via Washington Post.
Related Reading:
Letter Urging Cosponsoring of “The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act”.
We support Congressman Doggett’s bill because it would allow the Secretary of Health & Human Services to directly negotiate prices for prescription drugs and issue a competitive license allowing other manufacturers to produce the drug for Medicare in the event negotiations fail.
Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
Allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices and restoring discounts for low-income beneficiaries make sense because these proposals save money without shifting costs to beneficiaries and have broad public support.