Para quienes han estado sin seguro médico durante la pandemia, el alivio ya está a la vista.

En enero, el presidente Joe Biden firmó una orden ejecutiva para abrir el mercado federal de seguros de salud durante tres meses, desde el lunes 15, para que las personas sin seguro puedan comprar un plan y o cambiar de cobertura si ya tienen uno.

Defensores de los consumidores aplaudieron la iniciativa. Desde 2016, el número de estadounidenses sin seguro médico ha ido en aumento, llegando a 30 millones en 2019. La crisis económica causada por el coronavirus ha empeorado lo que ya era una mala situación, privando a millones de personas de sus planes médicos.

La medida contrasta con el enfoque de la administración Trump. Mientras covid-19 se afianzaba la primavera pasada y la economía implosionaba, expertos en salud le rogaban a la administración Trump que abriera el mercado federal para … Read the rest

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Jared Walker, who runs a nonprofit that helps people pay medical bills, posted a TikTok video explaining the recipe to “crush” hospital bills via charity care policies.

“What that means is that if you make under a certain amount of money, the hospital legally has to forgive your medical bills,” Walker said in the video.

The video has been viewed more than 10 million times. Walker’s organization, Dollar For, had already helped wipe out millions in medical bills before he posted that video.

Internal Revenue Service filings from thousands of nonprofit hospitals show they sent $2.7 billion in bills over a year to patients who probably qualified for free or discounted care.

That number is more likely a floor than a ceiling, experts said.

The strategy Walker espouses won’t work for all bills, but it could help address some of … Read the rest

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Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels.

These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in a half-dozen states, are a response to consumers’ intensified demand for action on drug prices as prospects for solutions from Congress remain highly uncertain.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans favor federal action to lower drug prices, making it the public’s second-highest policy priority, according to a survey released by Politico and Harvard University last month. That concern is propelled by the toll of out-of-pocket costs on Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom pay thousands of dollars a year. Studies show many patients don’t take needed drugs because of the cost.

“States will keep a careful eye on … Read the rest

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A key U.S. senator is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate N95 mask fraud and federal agents announced the seizure of 1.7 million more counterfeit 3M masks in the New York borough of Queens as the breadth of a major scam concerning front-line health workers continues to grow.

Early Thursday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), on her first day as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said she would ask the Federal Trade Commission to look into 1.9 million counterfeits shipped to hospitals in Washington state. The state hospital association announced earlier in the week that law enforcement had notified them that they’d been sold fake N95s branded as 3M products.

“We are looking to our FTC to make sure that there are no fraudulent products and materials out here, like masks, that my state is facing,” Cantwell said in … Read the rest

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“We did have tragedies and we did have losses. But we also got through it better than virtually every other state.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on “The Ingraham Angle,” Fox News, Feb. 2, 2021

Covid-19 has pushed states to adopt unique approaches to protect their residents, but few have garnered as much scrutiny as South Dakota. Its governor, Kristi Noem, refused to enact a mask mandate or close any businesses. She argued these precautions were a matter of personal choice, even at large gatherings, such as a July 3 political event at Mount Rushmore and the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis that was connected to covid cases in Minnesota and other nearby states.

This story was produced in partnership with PolitiFact. It can be republished for free.

She sees success in the approach.

In a recent television interview, Fox News personality Laura Ingraham asked Noem, a … Read the rest

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Mary Barnett is one of about a dozen seniors who got a covid vaccine on a recent morning at Neighborhood Health, a clinic tucked in a sprawling public housing development on the south side of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. 

“Is my time up, baby?” Barnett, 74, asked a nurse, after she’d waited 15 minutes to make sure she didn’t have an allergic reaction. Barnett, who uses a wheelchair, wasn’t in any particular rush. But her nephew was waiting outside, and he needed to get to work.

“Uber, I’m ready,” she joked, calling him on the phone. “Come on.”

Seniors of color like Barnett are lagging in covid vaccinations, and the Biden administration plans to redirect doses to community clinics as soon as next week to help make up for … Read the rest

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