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What We're Reading: Politicians Trade Blame; A New Healthy Places List; Healthcare Affordability Worries
Democrats and Republicans trade blame after insurance stabilization package fails; Aetna Foundation and US News & World Report create new list of healthiest places; Gallup finds that 55% of respondents worry about the cost and affordability of healthcare.
Democrats, Republicans Trade Blame After Insurance Stabilization Package Fails
Aetna Foundation, US News & World Report Create New List of Healthiest Places
Democrats and Republicans are pointing fingers at each other in the wake of a failure to include a stabilization package for the health insurance industry in the $1.3 billion omnibus bill passed last week, with premiums expected to rise right before the fall midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported. Negotiations fell apart over abortion language insisted upon by the GOP and rejected by Democrats.The Aetna Foundation and US News & World Report have released their first list of the healthiest places, with Falls Church, Virginia, taking the top spot. The project scores nearly 3000 communities across 80 metrics that extend beyond health coverage and doctors' visits to social determinants of health, such as income, housing, and public safety. Falls Church is among the wealthiest and most highly educated cities in the United States.
Gallup Finds 55% Worry About Cost, Affordability of Healthcare
Fifty-five percent of those polled told Gallup they worry "a great deal" about the cost and availability of healthcare in the United States, while 23% said they worry about the issue "a fair amount." It is the fifth year in a row, and 13th overall, that healthcare has either been first or tied for first among 15 issues.
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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