Julie Rovner

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, sworn in last week as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says she will focus on improving Americans' access to health care. Any discussions of shoring up Medicare funding, she says, should also entail strengthening the program's benefits.

Expanding Health Coverage Is Top Priority For New Head Of Medicare/Medicaid

Julie Rovner

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Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the new head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says she'll focus her time in charge on getting more Americans insured.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's first opportunity to weigh in on abortion and contraception could come as early as this week, as the high court decides whether to take up a Mississippi case.

How An Abortion Fight In Supreme Court Could Threaten Birth Control, Too

Julie Rovner

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In talk of the impact Amy Coney Barrett could have on abortion rights, many people overlook related cases that might be in play, including the right to birth control that the court recognized in 1965.

Funding is shrinking for Medicare's Part A trust fund, which pays for hospitalization and in-patient care. The funding largely comes from a 1.45% payroll tax paid by employees and employers.

Health & Wellness

Another Problem On The Health Horizon: Medicare Is Running Out Of Money

Julie Rovner

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With millions of people out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, fewer payroll taxes are coming in to help keep Medicare's trust fund intact.

Casa de Salud clinicians, staff and health apprentices socially distance outside their New Mexico clinic. The facility is one of many social safety net clinics that haven't yet received pandemic-related funding and are now on the brink financially.

Health & Wellness

Medicaid Clinics And Doctors Have Been Last In Line For COVID-19 Relief Funding

Julie Rovner

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Congress authorized $100 billion to reimburse health care providers for losses linked to the pandemic, but much of that money has gone for Medicare patients, with low-income families left behind.

Pedro Rivera waits with other volunteers in District Heights, Md. to hand out food. He's wearing a mask that reads, "This too shall pass."

Health & Wellness

Opinion: Always The Bridesmaid, Public Health Rarely Spotlighted Until It's Too Late

Julie Rovner

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Because the public health system mostly operates in the background, it rarely gets the attention or funding it deserves ― until there's a crisis.

Former Vice President Joe Biden at a press conference in Wilmington, Del., in mid-March. His bid this week to allow 60-year-olds to get Medicare "reflects the reality," he says, "that, even after the current crisis ends, older Americans are likely to find it difficult to secure jobs."

Health & Wellness

Biden's Health Play In A COVID-19 Economy: Lower Medicare's Eligibility Age To 60

Julie Rovner

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden proposes letting 60-year-olds enroll in Medicare. He'd pay for the expansion out of general tax revenue, he says, not the Medicare fund.

Abortion-rights supporters demonstrate last May in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. A high court decision in a case that could curtail or even overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em> is set for opening arguments in March.

Roe v. Wade: Settled Law Or Bad Precedent? States Prep For An Overturn

Julie Rovner

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A Supreme Court case in March will test the new five-member conservative majority. If justices strike federal abortion protections, look for a state-by-state quilt of abortion "deserts" and "havens."

Student demonstrators cheered in 2015 outside the Supreme Court after learning that the high court had upheld the Affordable Care Act as law of the land. But Republican foes of the federal health law are still working to have it struck down.

Stakes High For Democrats And Republicans In Bid To Rush ACA To Supreme Court

Julie Rovner

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Both sides say they want the high court to quickly weigh in on a case that could invalidate the federal health law. Whatever the court decides will likely have consequences in 2020 elections.

Since its passage, the Affordable Care Act has been the subject of multiple court cases and attempts to derail it in Congress — attempts that garnered protests in 2017 and beyond. The law has survived, so far, but a key provision was struck down Wednesday in federal court.

Obamacare Takes Another Hit In Federal Appeals Court Ruling

Julie Rovner

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A federal court in New Orleans has declared a portion of the health law unconstitutional, asking the lower court to reconsider the rest. This leaves the future of the law in limbo.

The "Cadillac tax," an enacted but not yet implemented part of the Affordable Care Act, is a 40% tax on the most generous employer-provided health insurance plans — those that cost more than $11,200 per year for an individual policy or $30,150 for family coverage.

'Cadillac Tax' On Generous Health Plans May Be Headed For Repeal

Julie Rovner

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The tax on an employer's generous health plan — originally envisioned as a way to get patients to avoid unneeded care — has never been implemented. Now Congress is considering a bipartisan repeal.