HealthCare, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

[phkrause]

CHART OF THE DAY

 

Medicaid covered about four in 10 births nationally in 2023 and almost half of births in rural areas. (Source: KFF)

[phkrause]

Paging Dr. Land Baron

Nonprofit hospital chains are buying up billions of dollars worth of real estate around the country, milking them for income while using their charity status to avoid paying property taxes that fund schools, emergency departments, and other community services. Using their taxpayer-subsidized fortunes, some hospitals are trying to influence local elections in which their profits could be at stake — including a new effort to unseat a progressive mayor who’s cracking down on a hospital giant’s tax-exempt real estate empire.

https://www.levernews.com/paging-dr-land-baron/?

[phkrause]

The skyrocketing cost of weight-loss drugs has state Medicaid programs looking for a solution

States increasingly struggling to cover the rising cost of popular GLP-1 drugs are searching for ways to get out from under the budgetary squeeze that took them by surprise. One solution some policymakers may try is restricting the number of people on Medicaid who can use the pricey diabetes drugs for weight-loss purposes. Read more.

[phkrause]

? New data: Long drives for Social Security

Data: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (46.6 miles is twice the average daily travel distance for seniors.) Map: Axios Visuals In less than a week, many Americans will no longer be able to apply for Social Security benefits over the phone, setting the stage for disruptions and upheaval for millions of seniors, Axios' Emily Peck reports. ☎️ How it works: Right now, if applicants can't use the agency's website to apply for benefits or change their bank information, they can phone an 800 number or their local office. More than 4 in 10 retirees currently apply for benefits by phone. Starting April 14, they'll have to trek to an office if they can't access the site. Interactive map: State-by-state-data.

[phkrause]

“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay”

On a late afternoon in November 2017, Witney Arch told her 1-1/2-year-old son to stop playing and come inside. Upset, he grabbed her right breast when she picked him up. She experienced a shock of pain but did not think it was anything serious. A week later, however, the ache had not subsided. After trips to several doctors, a biopsy revealed that Arch had early-stage breast cancer. Her surgeon told her that it was likely invasive and aggressive.

https://www.propublica.org/article/blue-cross-blue-shield-louisiana-insurance-lawsuit-breast-cancer-doctors?

[phkrause]

‘Total fear and demoralization’

Monique Lockett, a 25-year veteran of the Social Security Administration, died on the job of a cardiovascular disease that her family believes was exacerbated by the stress and anxiety she was experiencing at work. Current and former federal employees say they are “walking on eggshells” and are depressed after federal layoffs and reorganization.

[phkrause]

? A canary in the ObamaCare mine. Earlier this week, insurance giant Aetna (acquired by CVS in 2018) announced it is pulling out of the Affordable Care Act public marketplace next year, leaving some 1 million Americans left to find new coverage. While former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act increased federal subsidies for health insurers offering public plans, Republicans are currently threatening to cut those tax credits, which lowered average premiums and expanded health insurance access, bringing ACA enrollment to an all-time high.

• For the record: This week, Aetna was also sued by the Justice Department, which is accusing the insurer, along with Elevance Health and Humana, of running a kickback scheme that involved paying brokers hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for pushing enrollees into their taxpayer-funded private Medicare Advantage plans.

[phkrause]

Dave Ramsey bluntly warns Americans on Social Security, Medicare

As retirement nears, many Americans worry about the future of Social Security and Medicare.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4023283110689-dave-ramsey-bluntly-warns-americans-on-social-security-medicare?

[phkrause]

? Charted: Social security surge

Data: Urban Institute. Chart: Axios Visuals Social Security retirement claims are on track to increase 15% this year from 2024, Axios' Emily Peck writes from an analysis by the Urban Institute. From 2012 to 2024, claims increased by 3% per year, on average. Between the lines: Experts say it's a mix of seniors fearing DOGE cuts and wanting to claim earlier than they would have otherwise, plus the general growth of the 65+ population.

[phkrause]

Medicaid enrollees fear losing health coverage if Congress enacts work requirements

It took Crystal Strickland years to qualify for Medicaid, which she needs for a heart condition.

https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-work-requirement-worries-disability-health-trump-58feb16ce507c8ed467a71c0be27c38a?

[phkrause]

Medicare and Social Security go-broke dates pushed up due to rising health care costs, new SSA law

The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security‘s trust funds have moved up as rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, according to an annual report released Wednesday. Read More.

[phkrause]

Health insurers promise to improve coverage reviews that prompt delays The nation’s major health insurers are promising to scale back and improve a widely despised practice that leads to care delays and complications. UnitedHealthcare, CVS Health’s Aetna, and dozens of other insurers say they plan to reduce the scope of health care claims subject to prior authorization, standardize parts of the process, and expand responses done in real time. Read more.

Why this matters: Prior authorization means insurers require approval before they’ll cover medical care, a prescription or a service like an imaging exam. Insurers say they do this to guard against care overuse and to make sure patients get the right treatment. But doctors say the practice has grown in scope and complication, leading to frequent care delays.   The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December prompted many people to vent their frustrations with coverage issues like prior authorization. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who now oversees the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on Monday that insurers are motivated to make something stick this time around. “There’s violence in the streets over this,” Oz said during a news conference Monday, hours after meeting with most major U.S. insurers. “Americans are upset about it.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ More employers are sending workers shopping for their own health coverage   The number of abortions kept rising in 2024 because of telehealth prescriptions, report finds   Nearly everyone in the world breathes bad air. This is what you can do to lower your risk

[phkrause]

Medicaid reductions will affect seniors despite no cuts to Medicare

Federal Medicaid spending reductions in the GOP budget reconciliation bill could have significant effects for seniors across the country, particularly those in long-term care facilities.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4086321656158-medicaid-reductions-will-affect-seniors-despite-no-cuts-to-medicare?

[phkrause]

❤️‍? Bigger is not always better. A new report is exposing UnitedHealth Group’s sprawling expansion to become the largest health care conglomerate in the world. In just 10 years, the firm increased its holdings from 219 subsidiaries in 2013 to nearly 2,700 by 2023, helping drive $400.3 billion in revenue last year alone. More than 90,000 doctors, or 10 percent of all U.S. physicians, contract with UnitedHealth Group, and the firm controls 15 percent of all U.S. health insurance plans. Meanwhile, the company has faced legal suits and investigations into allegations that it inappropriately denies patients’ claims. 

• UnitedHealth Group is currently leveraging the murder of one of its executives to launch a legal war against doctors, journalists, and others critical of its monopolistic profiteering.

[phkrause]

? Americans' faith in Social Security is waning, even as a growing share see it as a vital government program, new AARP polling finds. Go deeper.

ps:Of course it's waning! When you have a party that continues to let the rich get away with not paying there fare share in taxes!! How can SS expect to get the money it needs??????????

[phkrause]

Warren Buffett’s longtime Social Security warning is coming to fruition, with retirees facing an $18,000 annual cut

Social Security is funded by a dedicated payroll tax, but the gap between what goes out in benefits and what comes in through taxes is growing. The newly enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has accelerated the timeline by reducing Social Security’s revenue through tax rate cuts and an expanded senior standard deduction. According to CRFB, these policies increase the necessary benefit reduction by about one percentage point; if the changes become permanent, the benefit cuts would be even deeper.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4140765241590-warren-buffetts-longtime-social-security-warning-is-coming-to-fruition-with-retirees-facing-an-18000-annual-cut?

[phkrause]

Georgia’s youngest children deserve continuous Medicaid coverage

Each year, parents must renew their children’s Medicaid — a burdensome process that often leads to children losing health care coverage for months at a time. Renewal letters get lost in the mail, phone calls are missed and never returned, or verification paperwork is submitted but never processed. The result is the same: children lose coverage, and families lose access to the care their kids urgently need. 

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/georgias-youngest-children-deserve-continuous-medicaid-coverage?

[phkrause]

? Social Security under strain

Adapted from a Strategic Organizing Center report. Map: Axios Visuals Workers inside the agency overseeing Social Security warn that they're buckling under the strain of understaffing, Axios' Emily Peck reports. Attrition and understaffing are long-standing Social Security Administration problems. ? And the Trump administration's hiring freeze and efforts to force out workers exacerbated matters, employees say. ?That's particularly true inside SSA's 1,200-plus field offices — the agency's "front door," where people can apply for benefits, get new Social Security cards and more. ⬇️ By the numbers: An analysis of union data shared exclusively with Axios from the Strategic Organizing Center finds that field offices were down 1,034 union employees nationwide as of March 2025, year over year. In addition, nearly 2,000 field office workers then accepted DOGE "buyouts," according to agency data cited by AARP. ☎️ The agency recently reassigned about 1,000 more to staff its national 800 number. The other side: SSA commissioner Frank Bisignano says customer service issues are the Biden administration's fault, and he's touting improvements. A Social Security statement last month said the agency is "handling more calls with a faster response time, ... reducing field office wait times" and eliminating scheduled website downtime. Keep reading.

[phkrause]

Watch out for double-digit health insurance increases in 2026

Property insurance may be what’s on residents’ minds as Florida continues to grapple with high housing costs, but people need to look out for soaring health insurance costs in the coming year, too.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/08/11/watch-out-for-double-digit-health-insurance-increases-in-2026/?

[phkrause]

Social Security has existed for 90 years. Why it may be more threatened than ever

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have said they will not cut Social Security benefits. Yet the program remains far from the sound economic system that FDR envisioned 90 years ago, due to changes made — and not made — under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Read More.   ? Social Security's bumpy 90th On Social Security's 90th anniversary, President Trump touted improvements to the program under his leadership — but reports from inside the agency tell a different story, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Why it matters: Advocates warn the administration may be making changes to the popular program that could undermine its long-term stability. ? "I made a sacred pledge to our seniors that I would always protect Social Security," Trump said today in the Oval Office. "And under this administration, we're keeping that promise and strengthening Social Security for generations to come. ... It's going to be around a long time with us." Reality check: The tax cut for seniors in the "big, beautiful bill" will likely speed up the date when the program's trust funds will be depleted, according to the agency's actuary. That follows bipartisan legislation last year that also sped up that process. The depletion in the Social Security trust funds would lead to a cut in benefits — but not the end of the program. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

Experts say rural emergency rooms are increasingly run without doctors

There was no doctor on-site when a patient arrived in early June at the emergency room in the small hospital at the intersection of two dirt roads in this town of 400 residents.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/health/rural-er-no-doctors-kff?

ps:I think it's just going to get worse!!

[phkrause]

Mississippi

The Mississippi health department has declared a public health emergency over rising infant mortality rates. There were 9.7 deaths for every 1,000 births in Mississippi last year, the state health department reported, which was the highest rate in more than a decade. Although data from the CDC showed that the national infant mortality rate rose for the first time in 20 years in 2022, Mississippi had the highest infant mortality of all 50 states — more than 60% higher than the national average. Since 2014, more than 3,500 babies in the state have died before the age of 1. “The Mississippi Department of Health’s declaration of a public health emergency in response to infant mortality is a painful reminder of the maternal and infant health crisis facing our nation,” Cindy Rahman, March of Dimes’ president and CEO, said in a statement. “These losses should be a wake-up call to the nation,” she added.   Expect health insurance prices to rise next year, brokers and experts say Pricey prescriptions and nagging medical costs are swamping some insurers and employers now. Patients may start paying for it next year. https://apnews.com/article/health-insurance-drug-costs-2026-rates-c4d865ec09c7088ecc6b55dc520f3566? ps:Yes the prices will and have been going up ever since the cult leader became president! Not Obama care but trump care is bringing the prices up.   Health care for millions saved. A new Trump rule on Affordable Care Act enrollment — slammed by advocates as a “rollback” of decades of progress in health care access — has been halted by a federal judge. A lawsuit argued Republicans’ new “Marketplace Integrity and Affordability” rule would have made coverage more expensive and harder to access, leaving upwards of 2.2 million people without health care.

[phkrause]

Another Fed takeover. The Trump administration’s war with the Federal Reserve is heating up: Trump’s top housing market regulator Bill Pulte has been on a rampage trying to oust a Biden-appointed Fed governor. Amid allegations that Lisa Cook committed mortgage fraud by falsifying bank and property records to obtain favorable loan terms, Trump is urging Cook to resign, which she has so far refused to do. The Fed, which oversees monetary policy, has faced Trump’s wrath for refusing to slash interest rates — and Pulte could have a lucrative dog in the fight. 

Government and family business. As director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte oversees top mortgage lenders including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises that provide funds to banks and mortgage lenders. Pulte also oversees regulations of the PulteGroup, his grandfather’s homebuilding empire and the third-largest developer in the country, which has been mired in lawsuits alleging defects in homes they’ve built. 

• The home-construction industry has been majorly impacted by the Fed’s stubbornly high interest rates, which have slowed building projects and home sales. The PulteGroup also owns dozens of subsidiary companies, including Pulte Mortgage, a mortgage company subject to Federal Reserve policy. Pulte, the regulator, has not played a major role in the PulteGroup’s affairs. 

A friend on the inside. Pulte’s family empire could have an ally in Trump’s Justice Department: In 2019, then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi investigated the PulteGroup for allegedly violating state law by “unfairly denying certain Florida homeowners’ repair claims without performing an adequate inspection of the home.” Bondi’s office settled with the homebuilder in January 2019, just months before her term ended. She went on to work for the Trump-connected firm Ballard Partners, which in 2021 counted as a client Pulte Capital LLC — an investment company owned by the same family that founded PulteGroup.

Trump wants lower rates. In 2017, Trump called it a “pleasure” and “honor” to nominate Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve — but their relationship has since soured. Trump last month said that Powell was “terrible” and that he was “surprised he was appointed” by Biden, seemingly forgetting that he was the one who did so. Trump has been urging Powell to slash interest rates to as low as 1 percent for months, in an effort to make home buying easier and to jump start the slowing economy.

Reporting contributed by Freddy Brewster.

ps:Well isn't that interesting? So that's why he needs the fed to lower interest rates!!!!!

[phkrause]

Health care

The governors of California, Washington and Oregon announced Wednesday that they will form a West Coast Health Alliance to coordinate public health guidelines separate from the CDC. The alliance will rely on guidance from national medical associations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which recently broke from the CDC’s recommendations on Covid-19 vaccines. “To protect the health of our communities, the West Coast Health Alliance will continue to ensure that our public health strategies are based on best available science,” the statement says. The move comes just one day after more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees signed a letter demanding that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign. The employees claimed Kennedy’s leadership had “put the health of all Americans at risk." Kennedy will testify before the Senate Finance Committee today.

[phkrause]

States' Medicaid nightmare

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Republicans' sweeping Medicaid overhaul has left a lot of the heavy lifting to governors and state health officials as the program launches the biggest package of changes in its 60-year history, Axios' Maya Goldman reports. Why it matters: States will have to do more with less as they face about $1 trillion in program cuts, and the likelihood of 10 million or more newly uninsured people due to new work rules and other changes. Starting in 2027, the new law will require states to condition Medicaid eligibility for able-bodied adults on working, volunteering or doing other qualifying activities for at least 80 hours per month. Keep reading.