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What We're Reading: Medicare Premium Increases Will Be Modest
What we're reading, November 11, 2016: Medicare premium increases lower than expected for high earners; HHS' Office of Inspector General will increase pharmaceutical oversight; and a study on the safety of mail-order abortion pills.
Premium increases in Medicare will be lower than initially projected. For 70% of Medicare beneficiaries, the increase will only be 4% over last year, and for the remaining beneficiaries who are high earners, the increase will be 10%, according to AP. The increase for high earners is well below the initial projected increase of as much as 22%, which had been in a June report.
The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will focus its attention on drug pricing amid concerns about the rising price of prescription medications. STAT reported that the OIG already creates such reports, but it will widen its focus to other issues, such as waste when treatments are distributed in single vials. Drug oversight is becoming a top priority for the agency.
A study is looking into the safety of abortion pills delivered by mail. According to The New York Times, researchers are trying to determine if abortions induced by medicine instead of surgery can be done safely at home with an online consultation with a doctor. Abortion opponents find the at-home, mail-order abortion pills dangerous, but advocates say the ability to receive these pills at home is a needed option for some women as access to abortion is being restricted.
"The Barriers Are Real": Antoine Keller, MD, on Geography and Cardiovascular Health
April 18th 2025Health care disparities are often driven by where patients live, explained Antoine Keller, MD, as he discussed the complex, systematic hurdles that influence the health of rural communities.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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Racial Differences in CA-125 Levels Tied to Ovarian Cancer Treatment Delays
April 17th 2025Black and American Indian women with ovarian cancer were less likely to have elevated cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) levels at diagnosis, resulting in delayed chemotherapy initiation and highlighting the need for more inclusive guidelines.
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Empowering Teams Begins With Human Connection: Missy Hopson, PhD
April 16th 2025Missy Hopson, PhD, Ochsner Health, discussed in detail the challenges of strengthening the patient-centered workforce, the power of community reputation for encouraging health care careers, and the influence of empowered workforces on patient outcomes.
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