Medicare

• KHN: Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill

  March 29, 2021: A cost-saving change in Medicare launched in the final days of the Trump administration will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures while potentially raising costs and confusion for patients. For years, the Centers for Medicare...Read more >

• KHN: Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets

  January 07, 2021: Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations. Clark, 57, a former insurance agent who lives in Bixby,...Read more >

• Joni Ernst Confirms Healthcare Opponents to Lifetime Court Vacancies – Endangering Lives

  July 13, 2020: DISCLAIMER: This article was published by the Washington Times which is rated as a QUESTIONABLE SOURCE by Media Bias/Fact Check, meaning it: "exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor...Read more >

• The Pandemic is Ruining the Quality of Life for Iowa Seniors – Mike McCarthy, Iowa Alliance President

  July 06, 2020:   As the COVID-19 pandemic rages in America, older Americans face extraordinary risks. In fact, eighty percent of coronavirus deaths in America are people over the age of 65. But despite that fact, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have ne...Read more >

• Sue Vogel – ACA Impact on Seniors

  July 06, 2020:   On June 25th, Trump’s Department Of Justice (DOJ) and Republican-led states are submitting their briefs in support of California v. Texas, the lawsuit seeking to strike down the ACA. If President Trump and Republicans have their way, 20 m...Read more >

• Iowa ARA VP Kay Pence – Pandemic Exposes Need for Lower Drug Prices & Reigning in Big Pharma

  June 08, 2020:   Finally, some good health care news. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently reported that there were fewer cancer deaths in states that expanded health care through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They compared cancer deaths in 2...Read more >

• Senator Joni Ernst’s Anti-Retiree Voting Record

  May 20, 2020:   Shame on Senator Joni Ernst who earned a 20% score on retiree issues for 2019. We will remember this.   The Alliance for Retired Americans’ annual voting record scores every U.S. Representative and Senator on issues affect...Read more >

• Jerry Hageman – Ernst Still Has a Ways to Go – Letter To The Editor

  May 18, 2020: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a retired military colonel, serving her first term, has come a long way from Red Oak since 1970. I also applaud her service as county auditor and state senator and am sure she has all Iowans' interests at heart. I live and work...Read more >

• ‘Hobnobbing With Billionaires in Davos,’ Trump Admits—If Reelected—He Will Seek to Cut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare

  January 23, 2020: "It'll be toward the end of the year," Trump said from Davos, Switzerland. "And at the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that's actually the easiest of all things, if you look, cause it's such a big percentage." By Jon Queally, st...Read more >

• Medicare Fraudsters Now Tap Telemedicine In Medical Equipment Scams

  October 18, 2019: By Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News  OCTOBER 9, 2019 (Hannah Norman/KHN illustration; Getty Images) Dean Ernest had been living in a nursing home about a year when his son, John, got a call last winter asking if his father was experien...Read more >