skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Ohio's milestone moment for women in government; Price growth ticked up in November as inflation progress stalls; NE public housing legal case touches on quality of life for vulnerable renters; California expert sounds alarm on avian flu's threat to humans, livestock.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Debates on presidential accountability, the death penalty, gender equality, Medicare and Social Security cuts; and Ohio's education policies highlight critical issues shaping the nation's future.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Many rural counties that voted for Trump also cast ballots against school vouchers and to protect abortion rights, Pennsylvania's Black mayors are collaborating to unite their communities and unique methods are being tried to address America's mental health crisis.

Healthcare Advocates Oppose Changes to Medicare Part D

play audio
Play

Friday, March 29, 2019   

ST. PAUL, Minn. – From coast to coast, people who rely on Medicare Part D could be left without their medications if a proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is adopted.

Medicare Part D is a federal program that subsidizes prescription drug costs for 45 million seniors and people with disabilities. The feds say they want to amend what's called the "six protected classes rule," and allow insurers to exclude many drugs from Part D plans.

Fatima Hyacinthe, trainer and engagement director with the Black AIDS Institute, says people who rely on those medications already report discriminatory practices by insurance companies, despite the rules.

"Situations where people who were in treatment for substance use disorder, and as soon as they were seen to not need that kind of intensive treatment – which is often the best practice for treatment – their insurance stops covering it," says Hyacinthe.

The CMS says the change would save money, but opponents warn that short-term savings could be canceled out by more spending on emergency-room visits.

This month, a California judge ruled against Minnesota's UnitedHealth Group, after determining the insurer discriminated against patients with mental health and substance abuse disorders in order to save money.

The proposal was made late last year but has not yet taken effect. Consumer advocates say removing drug-price protections from people with a serious illness could make a dire situation worse.

Hyacinthe sees the Medicaid Part D proposal as part of a broader attack on equality in health care.

"One day, we're defunding Medicare Part D or taking the teeth out of it," says Hyacinthe. “Another day we're creating work requirements for Medicaid recipients. And these things target the same group of folks – again and again, and again."

The Trump administration's proposal also would allow insurers to require that a patient try cheaper and potentially less effective medications first – and only grant access to newer, more effective prescriptions if the cheaper medications don't work.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
David Bintz' brother, Robert Bintz, was also released from prison this year and was represented by the Great North Innocence Project. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The Wisconsin Innocence Project is ending the year with some key victories including helping with the release of two men who each spent decades in pri…


Social Issues

play sound

Missouri has stepped up to fight childhood hunger by providing food aid over the summer for kids who rely on school meals for nutrition. The U.S…

Social Issues

play sound

The public housing agency serving Nebraska's largest city faces legal action amid claims of poor living conditions for a tenant with disabilities…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Indianapolis is expanding its innovative Clinician-Led Community Response program, offering Hoosiers a new approach to handling mental health crises…

In 2021, Black people owned less than 2% of companies within the $18 billion cannabis industry, according to a report by Leafly. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Worker-owned cannabis cooperatives in Rhode Island are striving to help those affected by the war on drugs. State law mandates at least six retail …

Environment

play sound

Christmas, it turns out, is for the birds, at least for those that will be counted this year in the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count…

Environment

play sound

A small turtle made popular in the "Kung Fu Panda" movies could soon be added to the endangered species list. Iowa wildlife advocates are working to …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021