Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
California’s promise of near-universal coverage is colliding with a blunt fiscal reality: the state cannot backfill sweeping federal cuts to Medi-Cal. As Congress pares back health spending and the White House backs a leaner safety net, state officials are warning that even a budget as large and complex as California’s has limits. The admission, delivered…
Medicare is inching toward covering the blockbuster weight loss drugs that have reshaped obesity treatment, but the path it has chosen is narrow, technical, and full of caveats. The new rules and pilot programs promise access for some older adults while leaving others to navigate a maze of diagnoses, prior authorizations, and cost sharing that…
Health savings accounts are built on a simple promise: put money in, get a tax break, and use it later for medical bills. The moment Medicare enters the picture, however, that clean story gets complicated, and the risk of an expensive mistake rises fast. I want to walk through what really happens to your HSA…
Telehealth is about to hit another cliff, and this one is measured not in policy jargon but in people. If Congress fails to act within days, 67 m Americans could see virtual visits with their doctors cut off or sharply curtailed, as temporary rules that have governed remote care since the early pandemic finally run…
For a growing share of older Americans, the most surprising part of a doctor’s visit now comes at the pharmacy counter, where the bill for a month of medication can suddenly drop to zero. The shift is not a glitch or a one-off coupon, it is the result of a structural overhaul in how Medicare…
Health care costs are climbing sharply for families, yet the political story coming out of Washington is about villains and saviors rather than spreadsheets. President Donald Trump is again casting big insurance companies as the main culprits behind your rising premiums, even as his own policies help shape those bills. The result is a familiar…
Congress is moving to keep Affordable Care Act subsidies in place, but the same coalition that backs cheaper coverage is now colliding over abortion language that could reshape what plans are allowed to cover. The result is a high‑stakes standoff in which a fight over procedure rules could end up driving premiums sharply higher for…
Medicare Advantage has become the default choice for millions of retirees, yet some of the country’s most influential money and media voices are now urging older Americans to walk away. John Oliver and Suze Orman have turned a complex insurance product into a national flashpoint, arguing that the fine print in these plans can cost…
Billions in Medicare benefits are quietly expiring every year while older Americans juggle rising prices on everything from groceries to prescriptions. A new generation of tools is trying to flip that script, helping seniors actually use the coverage they already pay for instead of leaving it on the table. One free app, built around Medicare’s…
Minnesota is carrying out one of the most aggressive Medicaid cleanups in the country, striking 800 providers from its rolls and tightening the spigot on billions in public health dollars. The purge is framed as a crackdown on systemic fraud, but it also raises immediate questions about who will be left to care for low-income…