What we're reading, September 22, 2016: a new bill would cap out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries; world leaders agreed to a global effort to curb the spread of superbugs; and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, MD, will donate $3 billion over 10 years to cure disease.
A new bill would cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors in traditional Medicare. According to Morning Consult, the bill is unlikely to pass in a Republican-controlled Congress, but could be a glimpse of the future of Democrats take back control after this election. The Medicare Affordability and Enrollment Act, introduced by Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, would cap out-of-pocket spending for Medicare at $5500, and also expand eligibility among low-income seniors.
The first global effort to stop the spread of drug resistance bacteria is beginning. World leaders have agreed on steps to curb the spread of so-called “superbugs” that are becoming immune to many medicines, reported The New York Times. However, the agreement is nonbinding and has required no commitments to specific targets. Approximately 700,000 people die every year from drug-resistant infections.
A $3 billion donation over 10 years from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, MD, will be used to try to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century. The couple’s philanthropic organization will bring together scientists and engineers with the goal that people get sick less often and are able to better manage diseases, according to STAT. Part of the effort includes $600 million to create a cooperative involving the University of California, San Francisco, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.
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.
Listen
Higher Weight-Adjusted Waist Index Tied to Greater Mortality Risk in Patients With Osteoarthritis
April 23rd 2025Researchers consider the weight-adjusted waist index a more precise predictor of mortality risk in patients with osteoarthritis than traditional obesity measures, like body mass index.
Read More
Varied Access: The Pharmacogenetic Testing Coverage Divide
February 18th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the February 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to uncover significant differences in coverage decisions for pharmacogenetic tests across major US health insurers.
Listen
What's at Stake as Oral Arguments Are Presented in the Braidwood Case? Q&A With Richard Hughes IV
April 21st 2025Richard Hughes IV, JD, MPH, spoke about the upcoming oral arguments to be presented to the Supreme Court regarding the Braidwood case, which would determine how preventive services are guaranteed insurance coverage.
Read More