Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement

Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

In this March 21, 2006, photo, pills move through a precision weighing machine at a pharmaceutical manufacturers trade show in New York. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Big pharma says it will disclose more about drug costs

The Trump administration said Monday it will force drug makers to disclose the list price of medicines in their television ads, setting up a clash with the pharmaceutical industry, which is resisting such open disclosures.

October 15, 2018
In this Nov. 29, 2017, file photo, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks during a news conference in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) ** FILE **

Obamacare enjoys resurgence under Donald Trump

Obamacare, a program that President Trump last year declared "dead," is enjoying quite the afterlife, with insurers expanding their offerings and the average premium finally beginning to drop, albeit slightly, from astronomical levels.

October 11, 2018
Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks during a news conference in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) ** FILE **

Key Obamacare rates to drop slightly in 2019

Premiums for key health plans will drop by an average of 1.5 percent on the federal marketplace in 2019, the Trump administration said Thursday, heralding an "especially gratifying" end to years of eye-popping hikes on HealthCare.gov.

October 11, 2018
In an op-ed for USA Today, President Trump blasted the Democrats on health care. "The truth is that the centrist Democratic Party is dead," he wrote. (Associated Press)

Democrats’ bid to scuttle Obamacare change defeated

President Trump blasted Democrats on Wednesday for trying to overturn his administration's push to give consumers an off-ramp from Obamacare, warning that their defense of the 2010 law is a path to government-run socialized medicine.

October 10, 2018
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks during an interview at The Associated Press in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

GOP defeats bid to cancel expansion of Obamacare-evading plans

Senate Republicans turned back a Democratic bid Wednesday to kill President Trump's plan to expand the sale of health plans that fall short of Obamacare's rules, saying Americans who buy insurance on their own need more options, not fewer.

October 10, 2018
Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, attends a news conference in Washington on Sept. 13, 2018. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Paul Ryan: GOP has kept promises, deserves 2019 majority

Take-home pay is rising while unemployment falls, the military is getting stronger and help is on the way for Americans ensnared by addiction to opioids, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Monday, making the case for Republicans to retain control of Congress as he heads for the exits.

October 8, 2018
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs after the confirmation vote of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Capitol Hill, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018 in Washington. Kavanaugh was confirmed 50-48. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Obamacare defenders say Justice Brett Kavanaugh could determine fate of law

A pro-Obamacare group wasted little time Monday in linking Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court and the fate of the health care law, saying a ruling that strikes down its popular protections for sicker Americans is right around the corner and that Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is to blame.

October 8, 2018
FILE - The main building of the National Institutes of Health is seen in Bethesda, Md., in this Aug. 17, 2009 file photo. Ten clinicians with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone are to be transported to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease. The clinician who became infected has already been evacuated and is receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Scientists look to non-addictive treatments for chronic pain

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are "very optimistic" that sweeping opioid legislation moving through Congress will help them get moving on non-addictive treatments for pain, as the federal government tries to rein in the nationwide overdose crisis.

September 30, 2018
Rep. Peter Roskam, Illinois Republican, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 17, 2014. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Major opioids bill clears House ahead of midterms

Sweeping legislation to combat the opioids crisis hopped closer to President Trump's desk Friday, as House lawmakers voted to expand Medicaid funding for treatment, spur the development of non-addictive painkillers and empower inspectors to root out deadly fentanyl from overseas.

September 28, 2018
In this Sept. 12, 2018, file photo, Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in New York. Azar said premiums for a popular type of health plan under the Affordable Care Act will edge downward next year. Speaking in Nashville on Thursday, Sept. 26, Azar said premiums for a popular type of “silver” plan will drop by 2 percent in the 39 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov website. The number of marketplace insurers will grow for the first time since 2015. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Obamacare premiums drop for first time

Average premiums for key Obamacare benchmark plans are set to drop for the first time in the program's history, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday, challenging Democrats' claims that the Trump administration had "sabotaged" the law.

September 27, 2018
This Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018 photo shows an arrangement of Oxycodone pills in New York. A study in Tennessee released on Thursday, Aug 30, 2018, found learning disabilities and other special education needs are more common in young children who were born with symptoms from their mothers' prenatal opioid use. The results bolster evidence of long-term consequences for infants caught in the nation's opioid epidemic. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Opioid treatment expansion bill being finalized

House and Senate negotiators finalized a sweeping opioids bill late Tuesday that expands addiction treatment by expanding availability of Medicaid funding, but that leaves a bigger fight over patients' privacy and seniors' drug costs for a later day.

September 25, 2018