Articles written by Alan M. Schlein

Sorted by date  Results 1 - 25 of 80



Bill would buy extra time to reform Social Security

While the chances of action begin as slim at best, House Democrats recently reintroduced a Social Security reform bill designed to give lawmakers a few more years to figure out how to fix the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds,...

 

How about pairing home health with the postal service?

Kaiser Health News editor Elisabeth Rosenthal, in a recent opinion column, argues that two of America’s toughest problems can be tempered with one solution. Older people, many isolated, are ill-equipped to meet people or even have their health...

 

Different vaccine mandates for long term care workers

The Biden administration recently rolled out several steps toward getting more Americans vaccinated with two different new rules covering more than 100 million workers and specific guidelines for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The...

 

Analysis: Big benefits for seniors in 'human infrastructure' proposals

Making omelets for a group of people is often a messy process, inevitably breaking a lot of eggshells. Ingredients can be changed hundreds of ways to experiment and adjust flavors. Ultimately, if it’s done well, the result is a delicious omelet...

 

Nursing home roundup: Vaccinations, costs, safety

Reversing Trump's limits on fines The Biden administration recently quietly reversed a controversial Trump administration policy that had limited the fines levied on facilities that endangered or injured residents at nursing homes. While the numbers...

 

Analysis: Is Aduhelm a new hope for Alzheimer's relief?

If someone you love is suffering from Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, wouldn’t you do everything possible to help them? What about if the medicine you give them has questionable usefulness or potentially dangerous side effects and...

 

Telemedicine on ascendency – or the chopping block?

ANALYSIS As the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine has transformed how millions of Americans, particularly seniors, see their doctors. Now the Biden administration and Congress must decide whether video and audio appointments...

 

Analysis: Has Biden forgotten his plans regarding drug pricing?

President Joe Biden has laid out a long list of policy priorities - some more politically plausible than others. But what he left out of his sweeping infrastructure and family relief proposals – dru...

 

Analysis: What's in, what's out for seniors in the American Rescue Plan

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) coronavirus stimulus package, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March, was designed to defeat the virus, get vaccines in the arms of Americans, checks in the pockets of those who need it, and jump-start the U...

 

Good news for bad outcomes of surprise billing

Some significant changes affecting seniors on health care issues may have gotten lost in the tumultuous whirlwind changes between the end of the Trump administration and the start of the Biden administration. Amid the increasing intensity of the...

 

Analysis: Biden's rocky path to health care improvement and reform

President-elect Joe Biden will not get a traditional honeymoon from Congressional lawmakers to start off his new administration in January. It will severely limit what he can accomplish on his ambitio...

 

Positive paradigms emerging for long term care living

So far, almost 40 percent of the nation's more than 240,000 COVID-19 deaths are from seniors living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. As the coronavirus pushes into what...

 

Soaring drug prices provoke scathing hearings, Congressional report

Enormous drug company profits are the primary driver of soaring prescription drug prices in America, according to an investigation that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released recently. The report, based on an 18-month investigation...

 

Social Security: Policy, politics, fact and fiction

The misleading ads and distorted facts have not quite hit the level of the 2011 classic “granny off the cliff” political ad where an elderly woman was being foisted from her wheelchair over the edge of a cliff, which then-House Speaker Paul Ryan...

 

Where the two presidential candidates stand on senior issues

Major-party presidential candidates Trump and Biden have dramatically different visions for the future on health care issues. So in assessing their policy positions, it's also important to look at...

 

Trump is still pushing for ACA repeal

Amid the sharp political divides over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing racial protests, the Trump administration continues its push to invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through the courts – a move that could prove to be...

 

COVID-19 realities: Those here now and those likely coming soon

As the nation moves into whatever "reopening" the next phase of the COVID-19 challenge means, the pandemic's mark on American health will be a permanent one in good ways and unfortunate ones too. The...

 

Life and death in senior living facilities: More fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic

Getting older in America will never be the same, after the astonishing death toll in nursing homes and senior housing facilities has revealed just how flawed the nation’s system of care is. The fallout could completely collapse the nursing home...

 
 By Alan M. Schlein    Columns    May 1, 2020

The doctor is in on your nearest screen, hopefully.

With social distancing, depression, isolation and loneliness hitting the nation’s seniors particularly hard as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has made big changes to Medicare to help doctors reach patients easier witho...

 

Washington Watch: High drug costs top voter concern

Despite a genuine consensus that something must be done, Congressional efforts to rein in drug prices remain stalled and more than likely dead until after the November elections. Even with rhetoric rising on how important controlling drug prices is...

 

Analysis: Health, money, politics -- what's in it for you (or not)?

President Donald Trump recently has been making a striking claim – insisting he has ensured that people with preexisting medical conditions continue to have health insurance coverage. In tweets, at campaign rallies and even at his recent State of...

 

Analysis: Congress' ongoing paralysis and political wrangling

Congressional lawmakers find themselves caught between the unlikely and the impossible as they try and work through complicated issues like drug price controls. With the sharp partisan divide, the ongoing impeachment of President Trump, the upcoming...

 

New efforts to improve medical cost transparency

While President Trump has not had much success on the drug price reform front, his administration is making modest progress on a different front – announcing two regulatory changes that Trump hopes will provide more easy-to-read price information t...

 

Better care? Lower costs? Better value?

The Trump administration has proposed to overhaul decades-old Medicare rules that were originally meant to counter self-dealing and financial kickbacks among medical providers such as hospitals, clinics and doctors. But the administration says these...

 

How about a Peace Corps for caregivers?

The numbers are simply staggering. People 85 and older – who usually have multiple chronic illnesses or have difficulty performing some daily tasks – will mushroom to 14.6 million in 2040, up from about 6 million now. So who is going to take...

 

Page Down

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/27/2024 20:31