Author: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
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Sources: Trump officials weigh delay of abortion curbs
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has told federally funded family planning clinics it is considering a delay in enforcing a controversial rule that bars them from referring women for abortions. That comes after clinics had vowed defiance. Two people attending meetings this week between the Department of Health and Human Services and clinic representatives told…
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Planned Parenthood to defy Trump abortion referral rule
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WASHINGTON • Federally-funded family planning clinics, including Planned Parenthood, are defying the Trump administration’s ban on referring women for abortions, drawing a line against what they say amounts to keeping patients in the dark about legitimate health care options. “We are not going to comply with a regulation that would require health care providers to…
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Long list of troubled nursing homes includes one in Colorado Springs
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WASHINGTON • The federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found by inspectors to have serious ongoing health, safety or sanitary problems, including four in Colorado. Nearly 400 facilities nationwide had a “persistent record of poor care” as of April, but they were not…
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GOP, Democrats team up to address surprise medical bills
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Plunging ahead despite paralyzing partisanship in the nation’s capital, senior lawmakers of both parties Thursday proposed legislation to tackle surprise medical bills and other concerns, from prescription drug costs to uneven vaccination rates. The draft bill from Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., echoes a time when health care issues…
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Feds charge 2 dozen in billion dollar Medicare brace scam
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WASHINGTON • Federal agents Tuesday broke up a billion dollar Medicare scam that peddled unneeded orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors. Two dozen people were charged, including doctors accused of writing bogus prescriptions. The Justice Department said the scheme relied on overseas call centers to pry Medicare numbers from beneficiaries. Authorities also announced…
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Watchdog: Thousands more children may have been separated
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WASHINGTON • Thousands more migrant children may have been split from their families than the Trump administration previously reported, in part because officials were stepping up family separations long before the border policy that prompted international outrage last spring, a government watchdog said Thursday. It’s unclear just how many family separations occurred at the U.S.-Mexico…
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Dems propose to lower drug prices
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WASHINGTON • Challenging President Donald Trump to make good on his pledge to cut prescription drug prices, congressional liberals proposed legislation Thursday to bring U.S. prices in line with the much lower costs in other countries. The Democratic bills stand little chance of becoming law in a divided government. But the effort could put Republicans…
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Fed health care website up and running after slow start
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WASHINGTON • The federal website where consumers can get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act was up and running Thursday after a slow start as sign-up season for 2019 opened days before the midterm elections. During early morning hours, people accessing the site were directed to a screen that said work was underway. A…
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Trump administration squares off with drugmakers over plan
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WASHINGTON • With midterm elections less than two weeks away, President Donald Trump is pushing a plan to lower prices for some prescription drugs, and Friday it put his administration on a collision course with the pharmaceutical industry. Top administration officials pushed back on drugmakers’ charge that the plan would import “socialized” price controls. Trump…
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Trump’s short-term health plans are cheaper but cover less
WASHINGTON • Consumers will have more options to buy cheaper, short-term health insurance under a new Trump administration rule, but there’s no guarantee the plans will cover pre-existing conditions or provide benefits like coverage of prescription drugs. Administration officials said Wednesday the short-term plans will last up to 12 months and can be renewed for…