Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Kind of ill today.

I will not be Posting on May 12. Sorry! I will catch up later. Still hurting on a Sunday. Hoping this will pass by Monday. Big thank you to Eric and Ken for posting this Sunday. I would not have been able to do it.

Clawback of money looted by Cerberus, de la Torre, and MPT from Steward Health Care

The third and best source of funds would be a clawback of money looted by Cerberus, de la Torre, and MPT, based on a prosecution for fraudulent conveyance, misrepresentation to shareholders, and other possible criminal charges. As a settlement, restitution would have to be paid to the hospitals, under new ownership. That may yet come, […]

Social Security and Medicare updates

Since many AB readers are either retired or about to be: “Looking solely at the trust fund that covers retirement and survivor benefits, Social Security will only be able to afford scheduled payments in full until 2033, roughly the same projection as last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will be depleted, and continuing […]

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report to Congress Brief

Executive Summary portion of the Medicare Payment Policy Report to Congress I have only had time to wade through the Executive Summary portion of the MedPac Report to Congress on FFS and MA Medicare plans. If the Executive Summary has any meaning, we will see some changes in how MA plans administer pricing of services […]

Biden finalizes rule opening up Obamacare to DACA recipients

by Megan Messerly One more ACA rule was finalized by Biden today. Not something huge in numbers; but something which will impact a few thousand people. People who were allowed to stay in the US or under a program called.  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. A coalition of states, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, […]

Broker Fraud in the ACA marketplace

by Andrew Sprung The latest scam in healthcare involves being enrolled in a different healthcare plan than what you initially enrolled in the beginning, The new ACA plan which will not be as good as the one you had. How easy is it for someone to do so to the enrollee? It can be done […]

A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly

I first caught up with this article on MedPage Today, “Doc Blows Whistle on Cigna.” I also read the ProPublic report. Both are reporting on denial of claims before and after treatment and the productivity of claims reviewers. Additionally, the report discusses the use of labor (nurses, etc.) outside of the US to evaluate claims […]

Coronavirus dashboard, 4 years into the pandemic: all-time low in hospitalizations, deaths likely to follow

 – by New Deal democrat The Bonddad Blog On Friday the CDC updated its COVID death statistics through March 31, which means that we now have 4 full years of data. It also updated its hospitalization data through April 20, and to cut to the chase, last week saw a record low hospitalizations for COVID […]