Health Fallout from Hurricane Harvey
The dangers from the floodwaters in Texas left by Hurricane Harvey can have long-term impacts. According to The Washington Post, since the floodwater contains overflowing sewage systems, there is a danger of infectious diseases. People can be exposed to MRSA and tetanus, and those in disaster zones are often unable to maintain food hygiene. People who flee flood zones also have trouble accessing their medications, which can be troubling for people with chronic diseases. In the long run, residents often experience increased mental health issues.
Funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) usually has broad bipartisan support, but as federal funding ends on September 30, trouble passing healthcare legislation in Congress could impact a reauthorization of the program. Lawmakers are considering using the CHIP bill to repeal some Affordable Care Act (ACA) taxes or to extend payments to insurers under the health law, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, such moves could endanger efforts to pass a CHIP reauthorization bill.
Controversial Proposals to Fix the ACA
With efforts to repeal and replace the ACA in limbo, lawmakers are starting to look outside the box for ways to stabilize the individual insurance market. Kaiser Health News outlined 5 proposals that are generating more interest, but had once been considered too controversial, for instance, allowing people to buy into Medicaid or lowering the eligibility age for Medicare to 55 years. One idea that might be tougher for the public to swallow is rolling back the ACA provision to let children stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. This is a popular provision, but it means young, healthy people stay out of the individual market, leaving more people who are older and sicker for insurers to cover.
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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