Federal officials met with representatives of community and senior organizations at a "summit" to improve efforts to sign up seniors for Medicare's relatively generous prescription drug benefit for low-income seniors. Read more »
Two separate nonpartisan congressional advisory agencies said the Bush administration improperly issued a directive last year limiting state expansions of children's health insurance programs. Read more »
Why, a questioner demanded of Senate staffer Caya Lewis and other panelists at a Capitol Hill forum, is Congress turning a deaf ear to pleas for legislation narrowing racial and ethnic disparities regarding health status and access to care? The answer from Lewis: many are unaware of those disparities or don't believe they exist. Read more »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it will test "bundled payment" in which hospitals and doctors team up to provide all the services associated with surgical procedures in return for a single payment amount. The announcement came amid growing pressure on the agency to move on the payment concept. Read more »
Forty-four million of the nation's uninsured could receive health care under a new plan that would allow individuals to buy coverage through a new, national health insurance connector program, according to an article released by The Commonwealth Fund. Read more »
With Election Day almost six months away, no one knows the answers, but top health care analysts, pollsters, and advisers offered insights at a Washington, D.C., forum—and some surprising answers. Read more »
A House panel began reviewing how the increasingly veiled nature of nursing home ownership is affecting the quality of care for frail elderly and disabled Americans and whether current federal quality standards have become outmoded. Read more »