Health Care Delivery

During oral arguments at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Republican-appointed judges voiced their skepticism over the constitutionality of the individual mandate without the imposed tax while Judge Carolyn Dineen King—appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979—did not ask any questions or make any comments about the case.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will hear arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit backed by the Trump administration seeking to reverse the Affordable Care Act (ACA); legislators return from a holiday break to try and reach an agreement on healthcare cost issues; a growing number of Americans in rural areas are turning to telehealth appointments amid hospital closings and a shortage of local primary care doctors, specialists, and other providers.

Individuals in traditional blue-collar jobs were the main beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act because they were less likely to have employer-based coverage before the law, according to a new study.

A federal appeals court rejected a request to delay next week's hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, is calling on former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, to immediately resign from Pfizer's board of directors; Maine is joining a handful of other states in expanding access to abortion.

Last week, a panel of diverse stakeholders took the stage at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Policy Summit in Washington, DC, to discuss shifting regulatory action from the federal to the state level, and the possible implications for patient access to high-quality cancer care.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top managed care news included President Trump issuing an executive order for more healthcare transparency; provisional data indicating that overdose deaths may be falling; the Supreme Court agreeing to hear insurers' Affordable Care Act lawsuit.

The US Supreme Court will decide a case involving 2 insurance companies that claimed they were shorted $12 billion by the federal government for "risk corridor" payments related to the ACA; Missouri's last abortion clinic will stay open until at least Friday after a state circuit court judge extended a preliminary injunction he previously issued; City of Hope will invest $1 billion in a new cancer research center and hospital in Irvine, California.

In a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr, D-New Jersey, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal, D-Massachusetts, have demanded information on the Trump administration’s changes to the federal marketplace, which they say can cause confusion for enrollees, weaken consumer protections, and further compromise the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Illinois Senate passed an abortion rights bill; a new study presented last weekend at ASCO 2019 found the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced racial disparites in cancer care; Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay an additional $300 million in NY talcum powder case.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is urging federal courts to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act; a Florida hospital is suing Aetna over the insurer’s Readmission Payment Policy; diabetic amputations disproportionately affect black and Latino individuals.

The Trump administration is planning an Affordable Care Act replacement plan; a drug-resistant fungus has been spreading and causing severe issues for hospitals; protesters gather in Washington, DC, to criticize the FDA's handling of the opioid crisis.

Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will see a 2.53% increase in payments in 2020; the FDA is developing a framework for regulatory oversight of artificial intelligence (AI); a federal court is allowing Wisconsin to withdraw 2 lawsuits from the state challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The American Medical Association and the AARP issue briefs in defense of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), while President Trump is delaying an ACA alternative until after the 2020; top hospitals offer unproven stem cell treatments; the measles outbreak hits a new high.

A study found that out of hundreds of specialty drugs, only 16% were covered in the same way by 17 commercial payers in the United States, meaning that 84% of those specialty drugs had differing coverage, explained James D. Chambers, PhD, MPharm, MSc, associate professor, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center.

Another federal district court judge has handed the Trump administration a major defeat this week in its attempts to redo rules about US health insurance, saying that its efforts to expand association health plans (AHPs) were “clearly an end-run” around the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

A US District Court judge in Washington, DC, agreed with plaintiffs who argued that the HHS Secretary did not act reasonably in allowing states to create work requirements for beneficiaries to receive healthcare. Orders sending both state waivers back to HHS are expected today.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Bill Barr opposed the Trump administration’s support to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through a federal lawsuit; OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, agreed to pay $270 million to avoid a state court trial in Oklahoma over the company’s role in the spread of opioids over the past 20 years; a New York county is banning unvaccinated children in public places in the wake of a measles crisis that has infected more than 150 people.

A report from the Urban Institute examined changes in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace rating regions from 2017 to 2019.

The March issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on immuno-oncology costs and Medicare Annual Wellness Visits in addition to studies on the issue’s theme of Medicaid. Here are 5 findings from research published in the issue.

“Medicare for Al” refers to a bill originally introduced to Congress in September 2017 by Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, with 16 Democratic cosponsors that would create a single, federal, government-administered program to provide healthcare to all US residents. In February 2019, Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019, with 106 cosponsors. This bill builds upon the legislation that Sanders introduced, with a few key differences. Here are 5 things to know about the bills.

An analysis of exchange premiums finds that older adults with incomes just above the premium subsidy cutoff (400% of poverty), particularly in rural areas where premiums are highest, have the most severe affordability challenges.

Drug use is fueling record-high syphilis rates around the nation, a CDC report said; the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing House Democrats to defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a lawsuit that challenges the law’s constitutionality; the World Health Organization (WHO) is convening an expert meeting in March to develop global standards for the governance and oversight of human gene editing.

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund looking at healthcare coverage said the uninsured rate is basically unchanged from before President Trump took office, but that more people, primarily those who have coverage through work, are underinsured. By late fall of 2018, 12.4% of adults were uninsured, down from a high of 20% before the Affordable Care Act became law.

A study presented at the AcademyHealth 2019 National Health Policy Conference, held February 4-5 in Washington, DC, found that the adoption of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has been linked to lower rates of maternal mortality.

Consumers shopping for insurance online last fall were most often directed to websites that promote individual health plans that didn’t meet consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Voters in the red states of Utah and Idaho voted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act last fall, but Republican legislatures in both those states are seeking ways to roll back those expansions; women sought out long-acting reversible contraception after the election of President Trump; a California coalition of health, labor, and education leaders cited a dearth of healthcare workers in recommending a workforce investment plan calling for spending up to $3 billion over 10 years to address the shortfall.

While President Trump's State of the Union address is not finalized, he may plan to unveil a promise to end HIV transmission in America by 2030; a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Maryland that claimed the Trump administration is failing to enforce the Affordable Care Act; new cystic fibrosis (CF) treatments targeting the genetic mutations that cause the disease help about 90% of patients, meaning that 10% are still waiting for a cutting-edge therapy.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that claims costs and federal and state policies largely influenced insurer participation in exchanges during the early years of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).