House Votes to Give the Government the Power to Negotiate Drug Prices

WASHINGTON — The House, delivering on one of Democrats’ central campaign promises, passed ambitious legislation on Thursday to lower the rising cost of prescription drugs by empowering the federal government to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. The bill, known as H.R. 3 — a numerical designation that reflects its position on Democrats’ priority list —…

Federal Watchdog Questions Billions of Dollars Paid to Private Medicare Plans

A new government report released Thursday found health insurance companies had combed through patient charts to obtain billions of dollars of additional payments from the federal Medicare program. The report, from the federal inspector general’s office, examined payments billed by insurers for those covered by private Medicare Advantage plans, which are increasingly popular and heavily…