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What We're Reading: CMS Eyes Block Grants; Judge Blocks Contraception Rule; State Healthcare Experiments
The Trump administration is looking to bypass Congress to give block grants to states for Medicaid; US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule on contraception, which would have allowed virtually any employer to refuse to cover workers' birth control by citing religious or moral objections; Democratic governors propose new ways to expand healthcare.
CMS Trying to Revive Conservative Idea of Medicaid Block Grants
The Trump administration is looking to bypass Congress to give block grants to states for Medicaid, Politico reported. Citing CMS sources, the report said Administrator Seema Verma has has been trying to insert block grant language into federal guidance for months but has received scrutiny from agency lawyers. If the effort is successful, it would represent a conservative victory to cap spending on healthcare for the poor.
US Judge Rules for States Seeking to Stop Trump Administration Birth Control Rules
US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule on contraception, which would have allowed virtually any employer to refuse to cover workers' birth control by citing religious or moral objections. The ruling was set to start Monday. The decision applies to just the 13 states plus the District of Columbia involved in a lawsuit, The New York Times reported. The judge wrote that the revised rules put forth by the administration are almost identical to ones he blocked last year.
States Are Seeing New Healthcare Proposals From Democratic Governors
Democratic governors are proposing new ways to expand healthcare, The Hill reported. Washington Governor Jay Inslee is proposing a “public option”—a government-run plan that will compete with private insurers—and California Governor Gavin Newsom is asking the Trump administration to allow the state to create a single-payer system. The progressive ideas could go national if their party wins the Senate or White House in 2020, but for now, the state level is the only place for Democrats to experiment with new healthcare proposals.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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