Budget Battles
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House Heads Out for 6-Week Break, Setting Up Another Shutdown Showdown
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Harris and Trump Trade Attacks as Campaign Heats Up
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Harris Blasts Trump at Her First Campaign Rally
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Harris Quickly Consolidates Support After Biden Exit
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Dems to Biden: ‘The Clock Has Run Out'
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Top Dems Turn the Screws on Biden
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Powerful Democrat Joins Push to Dump Biden
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Powerful Middlemen Are Jacking Up Drug Prices: FTC
By Michael RaineyThe middlemen who buy and sell prescription drugs throughout the U.S. healthcare system are inflating prices for consumers, according to an interim report released Tuesday by the Federal Trade...
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Insurers Bilk Medicare for $50 Billion to Treat Fictitious Illnesses
By Michael RaineyPrivate insurance firms running Medicare Advantage programs have been overcharging the federal government billions of dollars by making patients look sicker than they really are, according to a...
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Biden Administration to Reduce Prices on Dozens of Prescription Drugs in Medicare
By Michael RaineyThe Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will reduce the prices of 64 prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees as part of its effort to combat soaring pharmaceutical costs. The price...
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CBO Raises Its 2024 Deficit Forecast 27% to Nearly $2 Trillion
By Michael RaineyThe federal budget deficit will reach an estimated $1.9 trillion in fiscal year 2024, according to an updated outlook released by the Congressional Budget Office Tuesday. The new projection...
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Healthcare Spending Will Account for Almost 20% of US Economy by 2032: CMS
U.S. healthcare spending grew faster than the economy overall last year and is expected to continue doing so through 2032 as it climbs to nearly one-fifth of gross domestic product, according to a...
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1 in 8 US Adults Has Taken Ozempic or Other GLP-1 Drug: Survey
About 12% of American adults say they have used one of the increasingly popular weight loss and diabetes drugs known as GLP-1s, and 6% say they are currently taking such a drug, according to a new...
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Drugmakers in Medicare Price Talks Spent Less on R&D Than on Shareholders, Marketing, Overhead: Report
Eight drug companies that make the 10 medications whose prices are currently being negotiated by Medicare spent billions more last year on stock buybacks, dividends, marketing and administrative...
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Social Security, Medicare Get Modest Boost From Strong Economy
By Michael RaineySolid economic growth in the wake of the pandemic has strengthened some of the nation’s leading social safety net programs, as robust employment increases the flow of payments into the Social...
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Nearly 1 in 4 of Those Removed From Medicaid Now Uninsured
By Michael RaineyMillions of Americans have been removed from state-level Medicaid programs over the last year, following the official end of the Covid-19 pandemic and the return to pre-pandemic rules governing...
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Biden Touts Healthcare Progress With Support From a Former Rival
President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders joined forced on Wednesday to promote the administration’s efforts to lower healthcare costs and prescription drug prices, an issue that the White House...
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Study Raises Questions About Ozempic Cost as Medicare Spending Soars
Some widely used diabetes and weight loss drugs could be profitably manufactured for far less than they currently cost, according to a new study. The analysis, published in JAMA Network Open by...
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Drugmakers Push Back Against Price Negotiations
By Michael RaineyMajor pharmaceutical firms are fighting a new federal program that empowers the government to negotiate lower prices for drugs that are widely prescribed in the Medicare system. The Washington Post’s...
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Biden Proposes a $7.3 Trillion Budget for 2025
President Biden on Monday proposed a $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025 that seeks to lower the costs of prescription drugs, child care and housing while also cutting the deficit by $3...
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UnitedHealth Faces New Justice Department Antitrust Probe: Reports
The Justice Department has reportedly launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurer and a top manager of pharmacy benefits and physician groups...
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Americans’ Top Financial Worry: Healthcare
By Michael RaineyHealthcare issues claim the top spots in the list of things U.S. voters are “very” or “somewhat worried” about being able to afford, according to the latest tracking poll from the healthcare...