Betsy

By Noam Levi The Obama administration is ending a controversial program that allowed employers to avoid a key requirement of the new federal healthcare law. Beginning in September, employers that offer health coverage to their workers will no longer be able to seek a waiver from rules mandating that their plans provide at least $1.25

By Chris Fleming The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is often criticized as inefficient compared to its European counterpart, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), particularly in the field of oncology. However, a new study published online today by Health Affairs suggests otherwise: For new oncology drugs between 2003 and 2010, the median time for FDA approval was six

By Grace Marie Turner The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) was created by Congress as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as a means of containing Medicare spending. The IPAB was designed to take difficult decisions about Medicare payment reductions out of the legislative process and delegate them to a panel

By Thomas R. Saving and John Goodman The Obama administration has repeatedly claimed that the health-reform bill it passed last year improved Medicare’s finances. Although you’d never know it from the current state of the Medicare debate—with the Republicans being portrayed as the Medicare Grinches—the claim is true only because ObamaCare explicitly commits to cutting