Talk of the ACA Shifts to Repair
The talk about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has shifted among Republicans and the White House. According to The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump’s administration is considering how to shore up the ACA’s marketplaces. CMS has proposed a rule to stabilize the individual insurance market, but details still aren’t public. Meanwhile, Republicans are discussing how to repair Barack Obama’s health law. The talk on the Hill has shifted away from swiftly repealing the ACA.
California Lawmaker Discusses Plans to Cover Illegal Immigrants
Shortly after Trump took office, California withdrew a request for permission to sell unsubsidized health coverage through Covered California to illegal immigrants. In a new Q&A with California Healthline, state Democrat Senator Ricardo Lara, who initially made the request, discussed the decision to withdraw the waiver and how California will move forward with efforts to expand health coverage to immigrants without papers. California is home to more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants.
Keeping Protections for Vulnerable Patients
In an opinion piece for STAT, Michael J. Stephen, MD, who works with patients who have cystic fibrosis, outlines the protections that the ACA has provided for people with crippling chronic conditions. Beyond the 2 most popular provisions of the law—coverage for preexisting conditions and coverage until age 26 on a parent’s policy—the ACA also provides protections for participating in clinical trials, which has proven key to developing new medicines.
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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Integrated CKD Care Model Cuts ED Visits by 30%, Boosts Specialized Treatment
April 21st 2025An analysis of an interdisciplinary care model for managing chronic kidney disease (CKD) shows hospital admissions dropped by 26% and emergency department (ED) visits decreased by 30% after clinic initiation.
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