As Congress prepares to do battle over health reform, a parallel dispute is shaping up among small-business groups that are staking out opposing positions on a key element of reform proposals: whether Uncle Sam will take on a bigger role in offering insurance coverage or leave the field to the private market.
President Obama continues to enjoy high approval ratings.
The federal government is likely to spend $835 billion this year fighting the crises in the financial system and the economy, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
More than 50 doctors and health care executives have been indicted and dozens of them arrested by the FBI in a $50 million Medicare fraud case centered in Michigan, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
What's that sound? That rumbling from Wall Street? The broad market has cooled off this month. But some stocks are taking the June swoon in stride, thank you very much.
President Obama on Monday strongly praised a decision by the nation's pharmaceutical industry to agree to a deal cutting drug costs for elderly Americans, calling it an example of the kind of compromise required for successful national health care reform.
In a sign of progress in overhauling health care, the nation's pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a deal that will reduce drug costs for elderly Americans.
Five years from now, there's an excellent chance you won't have the same health insurance you have (or don't have) right now. That's because members of Congress are gearing up to reform the U.S. health care system, and unlike in 1993 when then-first lady Hillary Clinton tried her hand at changing the medical system, this time the important players -- doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers -- seem to be on board. You heard a lot about health care reform this week, and you'll be hearing even more in the months to come. It's an incredibly confusing, complex issue, so in this week's Empowered Patient, we break it down for you with 10 frequently asked questions about health care reform.
Americans are being told daily that health reform isn't just the right thing to do -- it will also help save the economy.
Americans want, deserve and demand health care reform.
As Congress prepares to do battle over health reform, a parallel dispute is shaping up among small-business groups that are staking out opposing positions on a key element of reform proposals: whether Uncle Sam will take on a bigger role in offering insurance coverage or leave the field to the private market.
President Obama continues to enjoy high approval ratings.
The federal government is likely to spend $835 billion this year fighting the crises in the financial system and the economy, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
More than 50 doctors and health care executives have been indicted and dozens of them arrested by the FBI in a $50 million Medicare fraud case centered in Michigan, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
What's that sound? That rumbling from Wall Street? The broad market has cooled off this month. But some stocks are taking the June swoon in stride, thank you very much.
President Obama on Monday strongly praised a decision by the nation's pharmaceutical industry to agree to a deal cutting drug costs for elderly Americans, calling it an example of the kind of compromise required for successful national health care reform.
In a sign of progress in overhauling health care, the nation's pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a deal that will reduce drug costs for elderly Americans.
Five years from now, there's an excellent chance you won't have the same health insurance you have (or don't have) right now. That's because members of Congress are gearing up to reform the U.S. health care system, and unlike in 1993 when then-first lady Hillary Clinton tried her hand at changing the medical system, this time the important players -- doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers -- seem to be on board. You heard a lot about health care reform this week, and you'll be hearing even more in the months to come. It's an incredibly confusing, complex issue, so in this week's Empowered Patient, we break it down for you with 10 frequently asked questions about health care reform.
Americans are being told daily that health reform isn't just the right thing to do -- it will also help save the economy.
Americans want, deserve and demand health care reform.
Health-care costs are pinching just about everyone. You feel it every time your co-pays and deductibles go up, and you feel it in your paycheck - rising employer premiums are leaving less money for salaries. Medicare is on its way to financial disaster within a decade. And 46 million Americans are without health insurance.
Government spending on health care is growing at an alarming rate.
President Barack Obama Saturday proposed an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to pay for health care reforms expected to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade.
America is finally getting a detailed look at the sweeping, long-awaited health-care reform platform championed by President Obama. This week the Democrats have unveiled their two primary proposals -- a 700-plus page bill in the Senate and the outline of the forthcoming version in the House that presents essentially the same blueprint for change.
As Democrats put together the framework for sweeping health care legislation, lawmakers are running into competing demands within their own party.
The debate over whether to have a government-backed insurance plan is fast becoming the most divisive health care reform issue.
We spend nearly as much on defense as the rest of the world combined. We spend more on health care than anybody else in the world. And we have a bigger national debt than anybody else in the world.
If President Obama has his way, health care reform will be finalized this year. Key Senate and House committees are planning to mark up legislation in June, and the House is aiming to vote on the issue by August.
Sifting through the rubble, sorting through piles of junk, bottom feeding - there are a lot of colorful ways to describe how value investors ferret out high-quality stocks that get socked when the market plummets or when an industry falls out of favor.
The recession has taken its toll on Social Security. The officials who oversee the program forecast Tuesday that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted by 2037 -- four years earlier than estimated last year.
The financial crisis has cast a shadow over a perennial debate in Washington: How to ensure the long-term financial health of Social Security.
The economy is in shambles, and the stock market is in the tank. If you're entering the waning years of your career - or if you've already retired - that's more than enough to suck the joy out of retirement. If you let it.
President Obama has taken the advice of famous Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. "Make no little plans," Burnham said, "they have no magic to stir men's blood."
Ask most Americans how much it costs to visit a doctor and they probably do not know.
President Obama told his Cabinet on Monday to come up with ways to collectively cut $100 million from their agencies' budgets.
Like one of its members unable to shake a bad cold, WellPoint, the largest health insurer in the U.S. through its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, has a bad case of the sniffles. Profits dropped 25% to $2.5 billion in 2008, as rising unemployment cut its healthcare rolls. And a computer glitch that denied benefits to thousands of seniors resulted in harsh sanctions, including a temporary ban from marketing and selling Medicare plans. <P>Now the company, like other healthcare providers, is likely to find itself even more in the crosshairs of the Federal government, as the Obama administration tackles health care reform. Ah chooo! - <I>S.K.</I>
Even under the best of economic circumstances, tax season is a tense time for American households. The number of hours we collectively spend working on our returns is probably a lot more than government agencies claim.
House Republican leaders unveiled their alternative to the proposed Democratic budget Wednesday, calling for $4.8 trillion less in overall spending over the next decade -- in part through a five-year freeze in most nondefense discretionary spending.
House Republican leaders unveiled their alternative to the proposed Democratic budget Thursday. They're calling for $4.8 trillion less in overall spending over the next decade, in part through a five-year freeze in most nondefense discretionary spending.
Cancer patients who rely on religion to cope with their terminal illnesses are more likely to use intensive life-prolonging care, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
There is much that is encouraging in President Obama's first budget, but also items of concern for those of us who worry that our growing deficits and debts will imperil America's future.
What a turnaround for the American Dream!
President Obama will ask wealthy Americans to deal with a tax increase and pay higher Medicare premiums to help fund a $634 billion health care "reserve fund" aimed at reforming the system, according to senior administration officials familiar with the budget being unveiled Thursday.
I think this time, it's different. I have this uneasy feeling our country is in the process of changing forever, and not necessarily for the better -- unless our perspective changes with it.
President Obama will pitch his plans this week for dealing with record home foreclosures and trying to thaw frozen credit markets -- and taking some key lessons learned into consideration.
Question: I started my job 10 years ago and have been doing everything the experts recommend: working hard, living below my means and saving religiously. But investment returns have been so bad that I don't have nearly as much to show for my efforts as I expected. Meanwhile, I see people who bought houses with no money down, maxed out their credit cards and spent extravagantly are now being coddled by the government. It makes me feel like a chump. Why should I continue to save and invest if the government is going to reward bad behavior? --Mike, Cleveland, Ohio
Nearly half the respondents in a survey of U.S. primary care physicians said that they would seriously consider getting out of the medical business within the next three years if they had an alternative.
Staring into the abyss always focuses the mind, which can help you avoid falling in. So let's take a look at the potential catastrophe that awaits us once we survive our current crisis.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden ripped into recent comments by his Republican counterpart that suggested that some places in the U.S. are more "pro-America" than others.
Seniors who switch between low-cost generic drugs and the original products based on who's footing the bill are likely driving up the cost of the government's Medicare drug plan, according to a new study.
We'll go out on a limb and assume you've heard the rumor that Social Security and Medicare are headed for trouble.
The monthly premium for the vast majority of the elderly and disabled participating in Medicare will hold steady at $96.40 next year
Nearly a million knee surgeries are performed in North America each year to ease the pain of osteoarthritis -- but researchers say the procedure is a sham
Many colon cancer patients aren't getting the screenings recommended after surgery to make sure the disease hasn't returned, new research shows
Back in the '60s, when the musical "Hair" was heralding the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the popular catchphrase was "What's your sign, man?" But with Hair now a nostalgic memory (in my case literally) and boomers more concerned about retirement than about Jupiter aligning with Mars, the new mantra is "What's your number?"
Entitlement has become a bit of a swear word. In Washington, D.C., it's technically a nonpejorative term for government programs like Social Security and Medicare that aren't subject to the usual budget process.
A review of Medicare payments to suppliers of wheelchairs, oxygen machines and other medical equipment showed nearly three in 10 were made in error -- about four times the rate previously cited by the federal government, investigators said Monday
The typical Medicare beneficiary can expect to see about a $3 increase in their monthly premiums for prescription drug coverage in 2009, federal officials said Thursday
Republicans were facing pressure Tuesday to vote for a rollback of across-the-board cuts in Medicare payments to health providers after a major doctors' group said the cuts could lead to a "meltdown" of the government's health care system for the elderly.
Congress voted to halt planned cuts in Medicare payments to doctors Tuesday, overriding President Bush's veto in a battle that pitted health insurers against physicians.
Saving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost the U.S. taxpayer. But so could letting the two mortgage giants collapse.
Both houses of Congress voted Tuesday to halt planned cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, overriding a veto by President Bush for the third time of his presidency.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy on Wednesday made his first appearance in Congress since being diagnosed with brain cancer nearly two months ago, casting a single vote to help break a Republican filibuster of an important Medicare bill.
A prostate cancer study that could change how doctors treat some patients found that widely used hormone-blocking drugs did not improve survival chances for older men whose disease hadn't spread
With the economy clearly the No. 1 issue in the presidential race, it's time to get serious about what any President can and cannot actually do about it. Which campaign promises are worth considering seriously, and which are just poll-driven pandering?
$300 million initiative seeks to improve the quality of health care and to eventually provide models for national health reform
How much money do you need to pay the doctor's bills in retirement? The answer: More than you probably think.
When is the cost of medical treatment worth the benefit of extra years of life? Stanford economists have come up with a figure
Millions of baby boomers are about to enter a health care system for seniors that not only isn't ready for them, but may even discourage them from getting quality care
Until the mid-1960s, the elderly made up the largest population of Americans living below the poverty line. The economic trinity of Medicare, Social Security and corporate pensions stopped that insidious trend and brought financial security to millions of people beyond their wage-earning years - but today, that infrastructure is under attack, leaving many workers and entrepreneurs nervous about how they'll afford to eventually stop working.
Let's say a giant asteroid was headed toward Earth right now and experts say it has a good chance of ending civilization as we know it. Let's also say that we've known about this asteroid for years but even as it gets closer and closer our leaders do nothing.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, saying that Social Security is "financially unsustainable," called Tuesday for quick action to keep the system strong and released a report detailing the program's funding shortfalls.
The sales rate of prescription medications slowed by more than half in 2007 to levels not seen since the early 1960s, according to a report released Wednesday.
Twice I have asked Alan Greenspan what he considers the greatest threat to the U.S. economy, and both times he has answered immediately with a single word: Medicare. He isn't so worried about the trade deficit and the housing crash; he figures market forces will sort them out. But Medicare is something else - a multitrillion-dollar problem that's about to get dramatically worse, and one that nobody wants to talk about. You'd think that the greatest threat to America's economy would be Topic A for the presidential candidates. But it's actually a topic they hate to touch.
A clinic may have infected a handful of patients with hepatitis C -- but about 40,000 more should be tested for that virus, as well as for HIV, health officials said Wednesday
Dear FSB: What is the 2008 small business tax rate? Is it 15%, or has it dropped?
What to do about the high cost of drugs? A cadre of academics and economists has a radical new answer: Take away the exclusive product patents the government grants a new drug and replace them with cash awards to the innovating company.
Question: My wife and I are both 55 and plan to retire in two years.
Nearly 2 million low-income Medicare participants could be switched to different insurance plans for their prescription drug coverage next year
Elderly and disabled people will see their monthly Medicare premiums rise 3.1 percent next year to $96.40 -- the lowest increase in six years
Medicare is running a cash deficit, Social Security coffers are draining, a talent shortage looms - and the bulk of the boomer generation is still years from retiring.
Cutting the grueling work hours of doctors-in-training had little effect on reducing patient deaths, according to two large studies
What do you think the future holds for health? What developments are you hoping for? What challenges will we face? Send us your thoughts and we'll print the best ones here.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Monday it raised its 2007 earnings outlook to $3.45 to $3.50 per share, excluding items, because of adjustments related to its 2006 Medicare business.
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