Tag / Medicare
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Splitting the Ticket: The Gap Between Statewide Races and Ballot Initiatives
Looking past the top line numbers in the House and Senate, one of the most interesting results of the midterm elections is the gap between ballot initiatives and statewide races in red and purple states. The results of the statewide races clearly show the strength of partisan polarization. Incumbent Democratic senators lost in Missouri and…
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Transitioning To Inclusive Health Records
This past summer, a staff clinician and I were poring over a state’s internal Medicaid claims database, which interfaces with the Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems of hospitals, clinics, and insurers to pay doctors for services they provide for Medicaid patients. We were conducting an audit of the vaccines covered by Medicaid, adding newly approved…
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United We Oppose, Divided We Govern
Anyone can tell you that Republicans are on the right and Democrats are on the left. But the left and right of what, exactly? The ubiquitous left-right dichotomy assumes that political parties can be placed along a one-dimensional ideological spectrum. This political fiction underlies most partisan political rhetoric; at the same time, it is becoming…
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Healthcare Partisanship: Where Do We Draw the Line?
In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed the landmark legislation known as EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) which mandated that hospitals who accepted payments from the federal government (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) had to provide emergency medical treatment until their condition is stabilized. This widely popular mandate is often cited as a guarantee that every patient…
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Big Changes in Medicare
According to a group of Congressional representatives, Medicare is due for a big change. A Democratic proposal was recently put forward that would allow the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare Part D. The agenda aligns with both the previous efforts of the Obama administration and plans put forward by the Clinton…
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Obamacare
BY JULIA KONG for GLOBEMED The Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare) went into effect earlier this month, bringing about the largest overhaul of our health care system since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid. Our country is split on the changes to come, but the bottom line remains that the old system left our…
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A Medical Emergency: When States Opt Out of Providing Care
This past May, the Republican-controlled legislature in Missouri voted to opt out of the federal government’s upcoming Medicaid expansion. This decision is not unique to Missouri—25 other states have opted out as well, claiming that the increased tax burden of a Medicaid expansion outweighs its benefits. The majority of states that rejected Medicaid are poor,…
