Medicare News Blog

The Regional Medical Center is due to receive about $944,000 in Medicare reimbursements, according to a Medicare Cost Report presented to hospital trustees Tuesday.

A Medicare meltdown now seems certain, as the U.S. Senate has left early for the weekend, abandoning seniors, military families and baby boomers. The Senate failed to repeal the Medicare physician payment formula that will cause a drastic 21 percent payment cut to physicians who care for Medicare and TRICARE patients.

Republicans and Democrat hit the Sunday talk shows today to debate whether a complex congressional process called ‘reconciliation’ should be used to consider a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system. Reconciliation is normally used for ‘taxing and spending and reducing deficits,’ said Sen.

Despite a last minute attempt to prevent a 21.2 percent cut in Medicare physician payments, the U.S. Senate ended the week without a solution.

Dear Betty, I’ve been uninsured since my company downsized about two years ago. Since then all I’ve had is part-time work — which doesn’t come with benefits. However my 65th birthday is coming up, so I’ll be able to sign up for Medicare.

The Fox Insurance Co. of New York, which markets its coverage in 21 states including New Jersey, may no longer enroll members in its Medicare Part D drug program because it has been unable to meet the needs of some members.

On Monday, the federal government will cut physician pay for Medicare and Tricare – military personnel and families – patients by almost 22 percent.

Physicians in Mississippi and across the country beginning Monday will receive a 21-percent cut in payments for Medicare patients, the head of the state’s medical group said.

Selecting an appropriate nursing home is never an easy choice, but Medicare has made it easier to view inspections at Medicare.gov.Using this site, you can gain access to the inspection reports of any nursing home in the United States that accepts Medicare.Some nursing homes are better than others. That’s true even if they conform to [...]

If you’ve been thinking about applying for extra help with your Medicare prescription drug costs, then now’s the time to get on the dance floor and hop to it. read more

With Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians set to drop by more than 20 percent Monday, Vicksburg physician Randy Easterling, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, is warning that elderly patients could find themselves with no doctor able to afford to treat them.

The New Brunswick government plans to eliminate the three-month waiting period for medicare coverage for people moving to the province.

Congress has missed a deadline on Medicare payments that South Dakota doctors say will hold elderly patients hostage to government’s inability to cover the costs of their care. “They created the problem. They need to fix it. But they’ve chosen not to,” said Dr. Thomas Huber, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association. Doctors [...]

The U.S. Senate left for the weekend before taking action on the 21 percent payment cut to physicians who care for Medicare and TRICARE patients.

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal division told a gathering of criminal defense lawyers on Thursday that the division was using tools ‘not often seen in white collar cases’ to combat financial fraud,” which includes Medicare.