• Is Trump's 'Mar-a-Lago Crowd' influencing VA policy? Investigation raises questions.

  August 14, 2018
  

  A ProPublica investigation suggests an informal team of advisors to the Trump administration, known as the "Mar-a-Lago Crowd," reportedly has exerted sweeping influence over Veterans Affairs policy and personnel decisions "without any transparency, accountability, or oversight"—and Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs are investigating the matter.

• Employers say workers' health coverage costs will reach nearly $15K per employee in 2019

  August 14, 2018
  

  A National Business Group on Health survey finds that, when accounting for both premiums and out-of-pocket costs for employees and their dependents, employers estimate the average cost of workers' health coverage will reach $14,099 per employee in 2018 and will rise to an average of $14,800 in 2019.

• 17 states don't require surgery centers to disclose patient deaths, investigation finds

  August 14, 2018
  

  Patients increasingly are turning to ambulatory surgery centers for outpatient procedures, but a USA Today and Kaiser Health News investigation suggests that significant gaps in state oversight and federal data might make it hard for patients to identify safe, high-performing facilities.

• New Mexico insurer sues CMS over rule to reinstate risk-adjustment payments

  August 14, 2018
  

  The lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Health Connections, contends that CMS violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued a final rule to reinstate $10.4 billion in payments to exchange insurers under the Affordable Care Act's risk-adjustment program.

• These 20 patients received kidneys infected with hep C—now they're virus-free

  August 14, 2018
  

  About two years ago, Johns Hopkins University and University of Pennsylvania researchers sought to broaden the pool of kidney donors by testing whether hepatitis C-positive organs could be safely transplanted into non-infected patients—and their results suggest such transplants can be successful.

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• Trump might stop cost-sharing reduction payments. What would that mean?

  August 7, 2017
  

  President Trump has repeatedly threatened to halt payments that reimburse insurers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income enrollees on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. Here's what you need to know about the payments and what could happen if Trump halts them.

• Amid uncertainty on health care reform, three insurers announce exchange exits

  August 4, 2017
  

  The insurers say uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing reduction payments are a reason for their exits from exchange markets in California, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

• Insurers attribute proposed 2018 premium increases to ACA uncertainty, KFF finds

  August 10, 2017
  

  Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, says, "In most of the country, the [individual health insurance] market would be stable if not for significant uncertainty about what the ...Trump administration will do."

• US News names 152 'Best Hospitals'

  August 8, 2017
  

  Mayo Clinic tops U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" for the second year in a row.

• ACA repeal has been declared 'dead' countless times. What would really mean it's failed?

  August 1, 2017
  

  The conventional wisdom is that under Senate rules, the GOP's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act will be officially "dead" if it doesn't pass by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. But a former Senate parliamentarian tells American Health Line that things aren't so simple.

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