States Look to Block ACA Subsidies Cut
After President Donald Trump announced he would no longer pay insurers cost-sharing reduction subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 18 states and the District of Columbia have sued the administration to block the cuts. According to Reuters, the Democratic attorneys general are asking a federal court in California to force the administration to make the next payment. A separate pending lawsuit from 17 Democratic attorneys general defends the legality of the payments.
CHIP Negotiations Progress Slowly
Despite the deadline having passed to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), little progress has been made to fund the program. Democrats and Republicans are at odds over offsets that would cut an ACA public health fund and increase Medicare premiums for people with income over a certain threshold, reported The Hill. The Democrats contend that these offsets will cause the ACA to break down even further. Without an agreement, the House could still vote on a bill passed by the committee.
Trump Will Declare an Opioid Emergency
Next week, the president is expected to formally declare a national emergency for the opioid addiction epidemic. Declaring a national emergency was recommended by the president’s commission on the epidemic, but former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, had said the step wasn’t necessary, STAT reported. Related, the president's pick for drug czar, US Representative Tom Marino, R-Pennsylvania, has withdrawn over reports he pushed legislation to make it harder for the Drug Enforcement Administration to act against drug distributors.
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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