Pixel Politics
Grace Okonkwo
the healthcare desk
Covers healthcare the way someone who has waited in the waiting room and fought a denied claim at 2 a.m. would: as something that happens to people, not spreadsheets.
Latest from Grace
'One in Five or Six' Medicaid Dollars Isn't Fraud. It's Mostly Missing Paperwork.
The White House budget director said one in every five or six Medicaid dollars is improper, implying rampant fraud. The real improper-payment rate is about 5 percent, and roughly 79 percent of that is missing documentation, which the government says is not a measure of fraud.
Medicaid's '5 Million Who Won't Work' Are Mostly Already Working
A CNN commentator said almost 5 million able-bodied Medicaid recipients sit home watching television instead of working. That figure is a projected coverage loss, not a headcount of people refusing jobs, and the government's own data show most Medicaid adults already work or cannot.
The US Spends the Most on Health Care and Ranks Last Among Wealthy Nations.
The United States pours a larger share of its economy into health care than any country on earth. On the things care is supposed to deliver, access and outcomes and fairness, it finishes last among its peers.
Ten Drug Prices Just Fell for Medicare. One Dropped 79 Percent.
For the first time, Medicare was allowed to negotiate what it pays for prescriptions. The new prices took effect January 1. Here is what that means at the pharmacy counter.
The $32 Trillion Medicare-for-All Number Is Real. It's Also Not What the Slogan Says.
A conservative think tank's estimate became a one-line argument against single-payer. The same study contains a fact the slogan drops: that $32 trillion is not new money on top of what Americans already pay. It is mostly the same money, moved.