Federal prosecutors have charged 48 people in a massive fraud that allegedly bought HIV medications and other prescription drugs from Medicaid recipients and sold them to unsuspecting buyers.
"I just get sick and tired, quite frankly, of all this talk. Everything that has to do with the federal branch of government ... is bad, and states are good. I remind you that ... the reason the federal government got into 90% of the business it got into is that the state[s] ... did not do the job."
The big summer showdown has come and gone. The Supreme Court decided the Affordable Care Act could stand, and so it remains, for the most part, undisturbed. The next hurdle will occur in November, when the country goes to the polls.
Repeal and replace -- or at least resist -- is the Republican mantra in the wake of last week's Supreme Court ruling upholding President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how the Supreme Court's healthcare ruling will affect patients and doctors going forward.
Chief Justice Roberts, in a move that likely surprised many, joined the four more liberal justices in declaring that the mandate could survive, but as a tax. (For those of you following along, I made that argument here at CNN.com a number of months ago.)
The Supreme Court in coming days will issue perhaps as many as four separate opinions on the constitutionality of the health care law.
At a time when Republicans are reaching out to the Hispanic community, why are some in my party treating the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico differently than the U.S. citizens in the 50 states?
The statistics are grim: Roughly one in six U.S. children are obese, and, at last count, nearly one in three are overweight, putting them at increased risk of health problems ranging from diabetes to being bullied at school.
Seventy-six people, including actor Noah Wyle, were arrested Monday at a demonstration protesting cuts in Medicaid proposed by the House Republican leadership, authorities said.
Suppose the Supreme Court does rule that the health care mandate is unconstitutional? What happens then?
A divided Supreme Court spent this week's final oral argument on health care reform Wednesday examining whether states would be "coerced" by the federal government to expand their share of Medicaid costs by the risk of losing funding if they refused to take part.
Elizabeth Cohen explains how health care reform would affect Medicaid.
More than one in three Americans lived in households that received Medicaid, food stamps or other means-based government assistance in mid-2010, according to a new report.
Mitt Romney says he isn't worried about those living in poverty since they have government assistance programs to fall back on. Instead, he wants to focus on helping the middle class.
The Supreme Court has carved out a week in late March to hold oral arguments in perhaps its biggest case in a decade -- the sweeping healthcare reform law championed by President Obama.
As stimulus funds dry up, cash-strapped states are facing steep rises in Medicaid spending, forcing them to slash services and trim costs.
Last month, President Obama proposed cutting almost $72 billion from Medicaid, the program that provides health care to America's poor. Such deep reductions are necessary, he declared, to bring down our staggering national debt.
The Supreme Court opened its new term Monday with a lively oral argument dealing with whether private plaintiffs can sue the states over cuts to the popular Medicaid health program.
These are hard times in the United States.
The Obama administration said Wednesday it was cracking down on waste and fraud in Medicaid and unemployment, in an effort that should save taxpayers billions of dollars.
Without help from the federal government, millions more people would have sunk below the poverty line in 2010, U.S. Census data shows.
The number of people who lacked health insurance last year climbed to 49.9 million, up from 49 million in 2009, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
A Maryland-based home health services company has agreed pay a record $150 million in civil and criminal damages to settle charges that it engaged in a nationwide scheme to defraud Medicaid and other federal programs, according to federal prosecutors.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are three of the government's most popular and relied upon programs.
Social Security payments aren't the only federal lifeline that could grind to a halt if the debt ceiling impasse continues beyond Aug. 2.
For the first time in its history, the nation's largest retailer Wal-Mart is providing free legal support for patients at the Arkansas Children's Hospital, many of whom are from low income families on Medicaid.
The Obama administration is attempting to block Indiana from enforcing a new law that would keep low-income women from using federal Medicaid benefits to receive any kind of reproductive medical care from Planned Parenthood.
States are gearing up to spend nearly 19% more of their money on Medicaid as enrollment rises and federal stimulus funds dry up.
A controversial new Indiana law limiting access to abortion services remains in effect after a federal judge Wednesday denied a request for a restraining order from Planned Parenthood.
Proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid have future senior citizens concerned. CNN's Sandra Endo reports.
House Republicans push through a budget blueprint that would overhaul Medicare and Medicaid. CNN's Dana Bash reports.
The House of Representatives passed the Republican leadership's 2012 budget proposal Friday, approving a blueprint for cutting federal deficits by roughly $4.4 trillion over the next decade while radically overhauling Medicare and Medicaid -- two popular entitlement programs long considered politically untouchable.
With his budget speech Wednesday President Obama had an opportunity to reach across the political aisle. He could have proposed a budget plan that focused on the long run, combined needed structural changes to the Big Three entitlement programs -- Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid -- with the tax increases he wants.
Both the House and Senate OK the budget bill. The president is expected to sign the bill shortly.
President Obama unveiled a plan Wednesday to cut Medicare and Medicaid costs, but without slashing benefits for seniors and the needy.
In many ways, the debate over taming the nation's spending and deficit beasts can be compared to a family's hand-wringing over what to cut, and what to keep, in tough times. It may be easy to nix "luxuries" like vacations and eating out. But should "essentials" like a car or a home be downsized or gotten rid of to save money?
One in six Americans is receiving help from the government, just as fiscal austerity threatens to reduce some of that aid.
Partisan warfare over taxes and spending again takes center stage in Washington this week, as Congress considers a budget deal for the remainder of the current fiscal year and President Barack Obama unveils his long-awaited deficit reduction plan.
This week, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan unveiled his "Path to Prosperity" budget proposal and made some bold claims about what it would do. He said it would bring spending and the deficit under control while stimulating the economy to recover from the recession with amazing speed.
Democrats and Republicans are locked in a stalemate over budget.
Late last month, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act, better known as "health care reform," quietly celebrated its first birthday. The bill has its supporters, including the millions of previously uninsured Americans who will have access to coverage because of it. But its critics have been more vocal, attacking the landmark legislation for "gutting" Medicare, drastically understating the measure's probable cost, and funding a new entitlement with early premiums from still another entitlement for long-term care that's destined to go broke.
House Republicans propose to trim more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade by reworking and cutting Medicaid, a program of public health care coverage for children, pregnant mothers, disabled and poor.
Good news: The budget proposal unveiled Tuesday by House Republicans would dramatically reduce the country's long-term debt.
House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan said Sunday he will unveil a Republican budget for 2012 this week that proposes dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid and other political lightning rods.
The governor of Arizona has proposed a novel way of helping to pay burgeoning Medicaid costs -- imposing a fee on smokers, diabetics and obese people who receive the state aid.
Strapped states are scrambling to address Medicaid's ballooning costs before the federal government cuts back a critical source of funding this week.
You can't turn on the news these days without hearing about our budget crisis. We've also been told, over and over, that it's a problem with spending -- we're doing too much of it.
For the elderly, state budget cuts could mean no more daily hot meals and exercise classes to help prevent falls. At worst, some could even lose their beds at the nursing home.
The Obama administration is giving states more flexibility in implementing the health care reform law, but that won't help governors plug one of their biggest immediate budget problems: Runaway Medicaid costs.
Funding to New York's schools and Medicaid program would get slashed under a $132.9 billion budget unveiled by newly installed Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday.
The government collected a whopping $4 billion last year -- the largest sum ever recovered in a single year -- through its health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts, according to a new report Monday.
The nation's battered state governments face a collective $41 billion budget gap next fiscal year, a survey released Wednesday found.
This video is no longer available. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Two people have already died in Arizona and another 96 are waiting for a life-saving transplant they may no longer be able to afford after the state slashed money reserved for the procedures.
The recent death of a patient denied a liver transplant because of Arizona budget cuts has prompted a Democrat legislative leader to charge that the state is now home to "death panels," he told CNN Thursday.
How can I get acceptable mental health services? I am 31, living off of Supplemental Security Income and have Medicaid. I cannot get assistance to have all basic essentials met. I am limited to what can be done alone without money or being able to walk or go too many places at once. I just need to know what to do.
Opponents of this year's sweeping health care law challenged its validity in a Florida courtroom Thursday, pressing ahead on a second front with their campaign to reverse it.
Three large pharmaceutical firms have agreed to pay a total of $421 million to settle allegedly inflated claims against the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The United States racked up a $1.29 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2010, the federal government said Friday.
States will have to dig deeper into their already empty coffers next year in order to pay for rising Medicaid costs.
Cash-strapped states are getting $26 billion in federal funds to shore up their budgets.
States filled an $84 billion gap to balance their 2011 fiscal year budgets, which took effect earlier this month. But they could collectively face a new $12 billion hole if Congress fails to help cover growing Medicaid costs.
Young children in Massachusetts will lose state-funded mental health services. Welfare recipients will see their employment and training programs slashed. And homeless families will lose nearly all their state assistance to move into more permanent housing.
Once upon a time, there was job security in a government job.
Governors and state lawmakers are anxiously waiting to see whether Congress will send them another $24 billion to help cover their ever-expanding Medicaid rolls.
A little-noticed provision in the sprawling health care reform law enacted in March could greatly expand access to contraception by requiring insurance companies to cover it without any out-of-pocket costs.
Think states have made deep spending cuts? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Ask someone why he or she bought a long-term-care insurance policy and you will probably hear a story about family. Often a sad or scary story.
States will have to find a way to close an $89 billion budget gap before their 2011 fiscal year begins in July, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures released Wednesday.
About 32 million Americans who don't have health insurance will get access to coverage when the $940 billion health care plan takes effect.
President Obama is expected to nominate a Massachussetts pediatrician and Harvard University professor to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, a senior administration official told CNN on Saturday.
A state attorney general is almost by definition a candidate for higher office. The filing of lawsuits challenging the health reform law by 14 attorneys general -- all but one of them Republican -- may look good for their next campaigns, but these cases are going nowhere legally.
The House's approval of a measure to reform and revamp the nation's health care system was praised Monday by consumer groups, given mixed reviews by doctors and got a thumbs down from insurers.
A kid with a fractured leg highlights the problems Dr. Jaquelin Gotlieb's pediatric practice is having with Georgia's Medicaid system.
California is hurtling into the budgetary abyss -- and it's not alone.
When Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered her oath last summer, many women -- and especially Latinas -- felt renewed hope as a champion of women's rights took her place on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The health reform debate is still far from the finish line, but Wednesday brought an important milestone: A key senator's highly-anticipated proposal echoing many of the reforms that President Obama is calling for.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, unveiled a summary of his proposed health care plan Monday.
Americans deserve the best health care system in the world -- one that emphasizes quality, but reduces cost, so all Americans can participate.
So just how many stimulus jobs have been created or saved so far?
To be clear, we're talking about people here who don't qualify for Medicaid or COBRA. If this is you, you may need to buy insurance in the private marketplace.
Americans are being told daily that health reform isn't just the right thing to do -- it will also help save the economy.
Government spending on health care is growing at an alarming rate.
The federal government has made available more than $74 billion in stimulus funds, but the majority of that money has yet to hit the streets.
The federal government has made available more than $75 billion for stimulus projects in the 10 weeks since President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery package into law.
Though not quite as generous as first envisioned, the federal stimulus package funnels a nice chuck of change to states to help them deal with their yawning budget gaps.
Struggling with gaping budget deficits, states are eagerly awaiting the hundreds of billions of dollars coming their way from Capitol Hill.
Losing your job doesn't just mean losing your paycheck. It also means losing benefits.
An 18% sales tax on non-diet soda. A 14% hike in public college tuition. The elimination of a tax rebate for homeowners.
Millions of poor American children have untreated tooth decay, some of them because they cannot find a dentist willing to treat them, a federal report issued Tuesday said.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on a new study that shows the uninsured are more likely to die of cancer within 5 years.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|