Republican leaders in Congress have started the process of dismantling the Affordable Care Act. But an advocate in Champaign says she is glad to see they're slowing down the process of repeal and replace. GOP Congressman John Shimkus of Collinsville expects finding that replacement, made up of a "multitude of bills", will take most of 2017.
A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine estimates a large majority of those over age 50 who may benefit from hearing aids don't use them. Champaign County Health Care Consumers says the primary problem is affordability, since the devices cost thousands of dollars.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed an executive order, creating a task force to look for waste, fraud and abuse in taxpayer-funded health care programs. The panel will also try to prevent waste in state and federally funded Medicaid and employee health insurance programs. Rauner says the cost of state-run health care programs increase when no one's acting as a watchdog.
Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana is paying a penalty to Medicare for the 2nd year in a row, due to a high rate of patient infections and complications.
In this week's Legal Issues in the News, commentator Richard Kaplan looks into the different kinds of advance medical directives and how a change in Medicare is bringing them to the forefront.
