The Latest
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Senate Confirms California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Health Secretary
The Senate has confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as health secretary, becoming the first Latino to hold the job
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California Defies Threat of Fund Loss Over Abortion Coverage
The Trump administration on Friday threatened California with a potential loss of federal health care funds over the state’s requirement that insurance plans cover abortions.
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Court: Part of ‘Obamacare' Invalid, More Review Needed
The “individual mandate” of former President Barack Obama’s health care law is invalid, but other parts of the law need further review, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday....
...The 2-1 ruling was handed down by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The panel agreed with Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s 2018 finding that...
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Eyeing 2020, House Empowers Medicare to Negotiate Drug Costs
Sharpening their 2020 election message, House Democrats on Thursday pushed through legislation that would empower Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and offer new benefits for seniors. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish...
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Senators Draw on Own Experiences to Chastise Drug Companies
Drawing from their personal experiences, senators on Tuesday chastised drug company executives over the high cost of prescription drugs, as the company officials cautioned that heavy-handed congressional action could jeopardize medical breakthroughs going forward. Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing marked the first time lawmakers have called the industry’s top executives to account for rising prices, which are a drain on...
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Trump Administration Proposes Higher ‘Obamacare' Premiums
The Trump administration on Thursday announced proposed rule changes that would lead to a modest premium increase next year under the Affordable Care Act, potentially handing Democrats a new presidential-year health care issue. The roughly 1 percent increase could feed into the Democratic argument that the Trump administration is trying to “sabotage” coverage for millions. The administration said the proposal...
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US Government May Have Split Up Thousands More Migrant Families
It seems likely that thousands more migrant children were split from their families than the Trump administration previously reported, in part because officials were stepping up family separations long before the border policy that prompted international outrage last spring, a government watchdog said Thursday. It’s unclear just how many family separations occurred at the U.S.-Mexico border; immigration officials are allowed...