Congress has given U.S. service personnel slightly improved help if they find they have been harmed while receiving military medical care and want to pursue justice via legal actions. Lawmakers, as part of a big bill at year’s end dealing with many different matters affecting the Department of Veterans Affairs, also quietly approved legal provisions that were part of the eponymous Brian Tally VA Employment Transparency Act. These were signed into law by President…

As patients who have suffered through catastrophic injury or illness know, the recovery process can be a tough slog. Good days. And bad. Positive signs. Negative ones, too. This is the difficult up-and-down the nation is enduring as it seeks to conquer the coronavirus pandemic. Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from the disease plunged in recent weeks. But the trend lines, unacceptably high even after their decline, have plateaued (see chart from the federal Centers…

With millions of Americans now eligible to seek affordable health insurance on Obamacare exchanges newly re-opened to them, even more consumers will want to see if Congress’ impending action on the $1.9 trillion coronavirus pandemic response plan pushed by President Biden further expands coverage options. The Democrats in Congress have made clear that they hope to get Biden’s financial package passed and in place by mid-March, when earlier approved pandemic plans, notably for unemployment…

Although politicians have obsessed for a decade about affordable health insurance, frustrated patients have seen little or no relief on another crucial concern — the skyrocketing costs of medical services. What policy paths could best offer dollars-and-cents help to struggling people with health care prices? New research from the independent, nonpartisan RAND Corporation offers intriguing clues about billions of dollars in annual savings, based on complex modeling of actual options confronting the public and…