Medicare

People who mistakenly stayed on marketplace health plans after they qualified for Medicare may be eligible to have Medicare penalties reduced or waived, if they apply for the waiver by Sept. 30.

The inspector general at Health and Human Services says Medicare should have done an in-depth review of suspicious reports from hospitals to keep them from covering up problems with infections.

Health insurance subsidies are pegged to personal income estimates. But if those are too low, a person may have to repay the government later on.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers expects the Trump administration and Congress to act soon to deal with the Affordable Care Act and possibly change…

The federal government pays for kidney transplants. But the program only pays for essential anti-rejection drugs for three years. Many people can't afford them and can end up losing the kidney.

Programs like Social Security and Medicare consume nearly 40 percent of the federal budget, and candidates have suggested a variety of responses to their rising costs.

Federal audits of 37 Medicare Advantage health plans cited 35 for overbilling the government. Many plans, for example, claimed patients with depression or diabetes were sicker than they actually were.

Hospitals have been fighting to block the rankings, but Medicare released them Wednesday. Of the 102 hospitals that got a five-star rating, few are among those generally praised for great care.

Investigators say Philip Esformes, 47, used his access to thousands of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to perpetrate a massive and profitable fraud.

Researchers found that in states with medical marijuana laws on the books, the number of prescriptions dropped for drugs to treat anxiety, depression, nausea, pain, seizures and sleep disorders.