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What We're Reading: Senators Work on Surprise Medical Bills; FDA Warns Canadian Firm; Top Dems Tepid on Medicare Bill
Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, is working with Democratic colleagues Michael Bennet of Colorado and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire to introduce a bill this month to stop patients from getting surprise medical bills; the FDA warned a major Canadian drug distributor, CanaRx to stop selling unapproved and mislabeled medicines to Americans looking to save money on prescriptions; Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are trying to keep the chamber united behind narrower proposals aimed at strengthening the Affordable Care Act and lowering drug prices in the wake of the introduction of a Medicare for All bill.
Bipartisan Group of Senators Hopes to Introduce Bill Against Surprise Medical Billing This Month
FDA Tells Canadian Drug Distributor to Stop US Sales
House Democratic Leaders Try to Curb Enthusiasm for Medicare for All
Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, is working with Democratic colleagues Michael Bennet of Colorado and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire to introduce a bill this month to stop patients from getting surprise medical bills, The Hill reported. Lawmakers are pushing to prevent examples like that of a Texas teacher whose story went viral last year after he got a $108,951 bill from the hospital after his heart attack because the facility was not in his insurance network.The FDA warned a major Canadian drug distributor, CanaRx to selling unapproved and mislabeled medicines to Americans looking to save money on prescriptions, The New York Times reported. CanaRx sells prescription medicines at a lower cost to hundreds of public and private employer programs in the United States.Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are trying to keep the chamber united behind narrower proposals aimed at strengthening the Affordable Care Act and lowering drug prices in the wake of the introduction of a Medicare for All bill, which has energized the party’s progressive base. Top Democrats are trying to avoid criticizing the bill publicly, even as they express little enthusiasm, Politico reported.
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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