Health Care

20 Million More Americans Have Health Insurance, Compared to 2010

By The Fiscal Times Staff

When President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, about 48.6 million people lacked health insurance in the U.S. In the first half of 2018, 28.5 million lacked insurance – a decrease...
The Growth of Medicare Advantage

By Michael Rainey

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans – which provide more comprehensive coverage than Medicare parts A and B and are managed by private insurers – has more than tripled since 2005, according to a...
States Spent $2 Trillion in 2018. Here’s Where It Went.

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 50 states spent more than $2 trillion for the first time in fiscal 2018, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of State Budget Officers. At the same time, as the...
America’s Couch Potato Problem Costs $117 Billion a Year

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday issued new guidelines for Americans’ physical activity for the first time in 10 years. The updated recommendations call for people to people to...
What’s Behind Soaring Drug Prices in the US?

By Michael Rainey

Forty years ago, spending on pharmaceuticals was about the same in the U.S. as in other wealthy countries. That began to change in the 1990s. By 2015, Americans were spending about $1,000 per person...

Democrats Won on Health Care. What Do They Do Now?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Democrats rode a health care message to their Election Day takeover of the House. Now that the election is (mostly) over, how will they follow through on that campaign focus? The party is still...
Chart of the Day: How Taxes and Transfers Affect US Incomes

By Michael Rainey

A new analysis of the distribution of household income by the Congressional Budget Office shows how taxes and means-tested transfers such as Medicaid and food stamps affect US incomes. “The combined...
The $65 Billion Superbug Threat to the US

By Yuval Rosenberg

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are a deadly and expensive health threat — one that could largely be addressed for just a couple of dollars per person a year, according to an OECD report released this...
What the Exit Polls Revealed on Taxes and Health Care

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Here's what exit polls told us about some key issues: 45 percent: NBC News’ exit poll found that 45 percent of voters said the Republican tax cuts had no impact on their personal finances, compared...
Fiscal Mayhem Ahead in 2019 — and 5 Other Takes on the Election Results

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Prepare for budget mayhem: “The budget bottom line is simple: Senate Republicans will have a very different fiscal agenda than House Democrats, and both houses’ tax and spending to-do lists will be...

Trump White House Takes Aim at the ‘Socialist’ Threat

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration wants to make it perfectly clear that socialism is a very bad thing as far as it’s concerned, releasing a 72-page economic report on the topic Tuesday to hammer the point...
Top Issues for Midterm Voters: Health Care, the Economy, Guns

By The Fiscal Times Staff

No surprise: Health care is the top issue for voters heading into next month’s elections, though Republicans say immigration and the economy are more important to them, according to the latest Kaiser...
McConnell: Entitlement Cuts Probably Won’t Happen Under Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) unleashed a storm of Democratic criticism earlier this week by telling Bloomberg News that rising deficits and debt are driven by Social Security,...
These 5 Companies Would Be Hit Hardest by Trump’s Drug Ad Proposal

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Trump administration’s proposal to require drugmakers to disclose their prices in television ads would hit five companies especially hard: Pfizer, AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Amgen and Allergan, STAT...
Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already

By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

The Trump administration’s top Medicare official Tuesday slammed the federal health program as riddled with problems that hinder care to beneficiaries, increase costs for taxpayers and escalate fraud...