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What We're Reading: Trump Asks for Spending Cuts; Opioid Distributors on the Hill; Farm Bill Tackles Health Insurance
The Trump administration is proposing to ask Congress for spending cuts that include about $7 billion from the Children's Health Insurance Program; lawmakers are set to question opioid distributors about the role they may have played in the nation’s substance use disorder epidemic; the House is proposing a provision in its farm bill that would allow cheaper but less comprehensive health insurance.
Trump Seeks $15 Billion in More Cuts, Including $7 Billion from CHIP
The Trump Administration is proposing to ask Congress to cut $15 billion in spending, including about $7 billion from the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Reuters reported. The targeted cuts reportedly would cover money that is not being spent and would not have an effect on the CHIP program itself, an administration official said.
Opioid Distributors Face Lawmakers
Lawmakers are set to question opioid distributors Tuesday during a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee about the role they may have played in the nation’s substance use disorder epidemic. The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 1 company official—from Cardinal Health—is expected to say that his industry did have a hand in the crisis by shipping too many pills and he regrets it.
House Includes Association-Like Health Plan Proposal in Farm Bill
The House is proposing to include in its version of the farm bill a provision that would allow cheaper but less comprehensive health insurance than plans offered through the Affordable Care Act, Kaiser Health News reported. The plans would be similar to association-type health plans and would involve $65 million in loans and grants administered by the Department of Agriculture.
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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