Tamara Lytle

Biography: Tammy Lytle has covered the White House, Congress, politics and breaking news in the nation’s capital for 23 years. She is the former Washington bureau chief of the Orlando Sentinel and her work has appeared in newspapers magazines and websites.

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Tamara Lytle 'sPosts

A Timely, Smooth Launch for the Health Care Law? The Jury’s Out

Posted on 06/19/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsWill everything be ready to launch President Obama’s health care law by the Oct. 1 deadline? We’re getting mixed signals. Start with a report released June 19 by the Government Accountability Office, the first in-depth look at the sprawling system. The upside: “Much progress has been made in establishing the regulatory framework and guidance required for this undertaking, and [the administration] is currently taking steps to implement key activities of the [online insurance marketplaces],” the report said. (Read the full …

Automatic Prescription Refills: Helpful or Wasteful?

Posted on 06/18/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsPrescription drug programs that automatically ship out refills at regular intervals can help older Americans follow doctor’s orders, according to business organizations that are lobbying against a Medicare crackdown on the practice. Medicare, though, says that the automatic refill programs lead to waste when beneficiaries get prescriptions they don’t need and can’t return them. In February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) proposed new regulations that say, in part: “Shipment of unwanted medications is not only wasteful, but …

Bill Aims to Root Out Waste In Medicare and Medicaid

Posted on 06/14/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Money & Savings | Your LifeNew legislation proposed with bipartisan support on Capitol Hill aims to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Mistakes, inefficiencies and fraud in the two health care programs come at a steep price to both consumers and taxpayers, points out Joyce A. Rogers, senior vice president of government affairs for AARP, which has endorsed the bill. “The PRIME Act is a strong first step toward reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in our public health programs,” she says. (PRIME …

What’s Congress Up To? How You Can Find Out

Posted on 06/13/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Politics | TechnologyAmericans rate Congress below most scourges, polls regularly show. But does the public actually know what Congress is doing? Only a small percentage of legislation makes it to the Senate and House floors, where insomniacs can stay glued to the proceedings on C-SPAN. But these days, it’s a lot easier than it used to be to track bills of interest through the legislative process. The granddaddy of legislative access is named, fittingly, after the guy who created the Library of …

Why Do People Oppose Obamacare? The Answer May Surprise You

Posted on 06/11/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsA lot of Americans say they oppose President Obama’s health care reform law. But you may be surprised to learn that of all those who say they oppose the 2010 law because its approach to health care is “too liberal” (35 percent), nearly half again as many oppose it because they think it’s “not liberal enough” (16 percent). This from a recent CNN/ORC survey that shows 43 percent of all Americans in favor of Obamacare — a figure that, for …

In Congress, Dingell Has Outlasted Them All

Posted on 06/7/2013 by Tamara Lytle | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | Politics | WorkHolding any job for 57 years is impressive. But it’s especially remarkable when every two years your bosses are asked whether they want to fire you. Rep. John D. Dingell Jr. (D-Mich.) now owns the record for holding a seat in Congress longer than anyone else – 57 years, 5 months and 26 days. As the Washington Post’s Paul Kane writes: “That eclipses the late Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.), who served in both the House and Senate. “Elected in …