Health Care

Poor Health of Workers Costs Employers an Extra $530 Billion: Report

By Yuval Rosenberg

U.S. employers spend about $880 billion on health care benefits for employees and their dependents, but poor health among workers costs them another $530 billion — or about 60 cents for every dollar...
Trump Administration Plots Costly Private-Care Expansion for Veterans

By Isaac Arnsdorf, ProPublica

Last June, President Donald Trump signed a landmark law on veterans’ health care after months of tense negotiations. At the ceremony in the Rose Garden, Trump said the bill would deliver on his...
20 Million More Americans Have Health Insurance, Compared to 2010

By The Fiscal Times Staff

When President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, about 48.6 million people lacked health insurance in the U.S. In the first half of 2018, 28.5 million lacked insurance – a decrease...
The Growth of Medicare Advantage

By Michael Rainey

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans – which provide more comprehensive coverage than Medicare parts A and B and are managed by private insurers – has more than tripled since 2005, according to a...
States Spent $2 Trillion in 2018. Here’s Where It Went.

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 50 states spent more than $2 trillion for the first time in fiscal 2018, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of State Budget Officers. At the same time, as the...

America’s Couch Potato Problem Costs $117 Billion a Year

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday issued new guidelines for Americans’ physical activity for the first time in 10 years. The updated recommendations call for people to people to...
What’s Behind Soaring Drug Prices in the US?

By Michael Rainey

Forty years ago, spending on pharmaceuticals was about the same in the U.S. as in other wealthy countries. That began to change in the 1990s. By 2015, Americans were spending about $1,000 per person...
Democrats Won on Health Care. What Do They Do Now?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Democrats rode a health care message to their Election Day takeover of the House. Now that the election is (mostly) over, how will they follow through on that campaign focus? The party is still...
Chart of the Day: How Taxes and Transfers Affect US Incomes

By Michael Rainey

A new analysis of the distribution of household income by the Congressional Budget Office shows how taxes and means-tested transfers such as Medicaid and food stamps affect US incomes. “The combined...
The $65 Billion Superbug Threat to the US

By Yuval Rosenberg

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are a deadly and expensive health threat — one that could largely be addressed for just a couple of dollars per person a year, according to an OECD report released this...

Senate Rejects Limits on Short-Term Health Plans

By Michael Rainey

Senate Democrats took aim at President Trump’s expansion of short-term health care plans Wednesday, forcing a vote on a proposal to roll back the administration’s plan to allow insurers to sell low-...
4 Key Fact Checks on Trump and Medicare for All

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump published an op-ed in Wednesday’s USA Today, warning in dire language of the consequences of Democrats’ Medicare-for-all proposals. “Democrats would gut Medicare with their planned...
Health Care Economist Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant

By Yuval Rosenberg

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on Thursday announced the 25 winners of this year’s fellowships — awards, commonly called “genius grants,” for “exceptional creativity” and the “...
Out-of-Network Health Coverage Is Waning

By Yuval Rosenberg

Surprise medical bills have gotten considerable attention in recent months — like this story , in which a high school teacher was charged nearly $109,000 by the hospital where he was treated for a...
In the Battle to Control Drug Costs, Old Patent Laws Get New Life

By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News

In the drug pricing battle, progressive lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and patients’ rights activists rarely find themselves in step with the health industry’s big players. But in a...