Friday Five: Top 5 healthcare business news items from the MCOL Weekend edition

Every business day, MCOL posts feature stories making news on the business of health care. Here are five we think are particularly important for this week: Medicaid Expansion Takes A Bite Out Of Medical Debt As the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress look to scale back Medicaid, many voters and state lawmakers across the country are moving to make it bigger. Kaiser Health News Friday, November 17, 2017 Medicare Seeks Comment On Ways To Cut Costs Of Part D Drugs Noting that the true price of a drug is often hidden from consumers, Medicare officials requested comments late Thursday on how to use discounts and rebates to help decrease what enrollees pay for prescriptions. Kaiser Health News Thursday, November 16, 2017 Remembering Health Care Economist Uwe Reinhardt Reinhardt, who died on Monday, helped shape the debate about health care by advocating for individual mandates and universal health care. Originally broadcast in 2009. NPR Thursday, November 16, 2017 Sign-ups hit 1.5 million in first two weeks of ACA open enrollment HealthCare.gov sign-ups continue to outpace last year's, with nearly 1.5 million people selecting plans during the first two weeks of open enrollment. Modern Healthcare Wednesday, November 15, 2017 Bill Gates says big data can help solve the Alzheimer's puzzle Through his foundation, Bill Gates has focused on reducing global poverty, finding cures for infectious diseases, and promoting education and sustainable energy. Now Gates is getting into an area that's new for him: Alzheimer's disease. Monday, November 13, 2017 These and more weekly news items on the business of healthcare are featured in the MCOL Weekend edition, along with the MCOL Tidbits, and more, for MCOL Premium level members.