Hospitals, doctors, hospices, home health agencies and others are asking Senate leadership in both parties not to extend Medicare sequestration to pay for some of the bipartisan infrastructure deal, but one lobbyist says there are a number of unanswered questions about how Medicare sequester cuts could factor into both the infrastructure bill and the Senate […]

Senate Democrats’ plan to expand Medicare coverage would help a growing senior population often struggling with hefty out-of-pocket medical expenses, potentially providing ballast for the economy in coming years. Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee agreed Tuesday on a $3.5 trillion spending level for a bill to carry most of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda […]

Senate Democrats laid out an ambitious $3.5 trillion tax and spending agreement that’s slated to include a major expansion of both Medicare and Medicaid, paid for partly with cuts to prescription drug spending. President Joe Biden hasn’t yet said himself whether he supports the proposal unveiled by Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday night, […]

Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package will unleash a gusher of hundreds of billions of dollars for progressive priorities, from climate programs to an expansion of Medicare to promised green cards for some undocumented immigrants, according to new details released on Wednesday. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Mark Warner […]

Most physicians, surgeons, and specialists would see only minor increases or reductions in their Medicare payment rates next year under a proposal released Tuesday by the Biden administration. The rate reductions outlined in the proposed 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule are due to budget neutrality provisions in the Medicare Act that require program payment hikes be offset […]

Progressives are ramping up their push to expand Medicare in an upcoming legislative package, with the goal of lowering the eligibility age and adding new benefits. The Congressional Progressive Caucus made its case to White House counselor Steve Ricchetti in a meeting Tuesday, saying they want eligibility to kick in at 60 instead of 65 and coverage […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Friday announced it will review a decision vacating a 2005 rule that changed how HHS calculates supplemental Medicare payments for hospitals that serve a high number of poor patients. At issue is a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which said that the U.S. Health and […]

A one-time infusion of cash for state home health programs will fund worker bonuses and training without meeting the Biden administration’s goal of bolstering wages and benefits in the industry, proposals in six states show.  President Joe Biden has proposed injecting the home and community-based services industry with $400 billion, mostly through Medicaid. Biden wants to boost […]

The Supreme Court on Monday (June 28) decided not to take up hospitals’ lawsuit over the Trump CMS’ Medicare Part B pay cuts for outpatient clinic visits at certain off-campus hospital facilities, but the court has not decided whether to look at the lawsuit on reimbursement cuts for 340B drugs that hospitals said was linked […]