ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Through Oct. 31, Medicare had spent $2 billion on COVID-19 tests in 2022, an amount that will surpass 2021' s total as claims are filed, according to new data provided to ProPublica by CareSet, a research organization that works to make the health care system more transparent. That compares to $2…
Health/Employee Benefits News
At 330 pounds, Gregg Schenck had tried just about every diet by age 56.. He wanted to go to Disney World with her but worried about squeezing into an airline seat. Schenck is now one of the dozens of workers part of a health program focusing on a low-carb diet at Laitram, a Louisiana manufacturing company that got its start in 1947 with the first patent for a shrimp…
But with the federal government phasing out those payments, the Florida Department of Children and Families this year will begin reviewing the eligibility of almost 5 million recipients, with the remainder addressed by other state and federal agencies. The first to be reviewed will be recipients whose most recent income data showed they were no longer…
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Through Oct. 31, Medicare had spent $2 billion on COVID-19 tests in 2022, an amount that will surpass 2021' s total as claims are filed, according to new data provided to ProPublica by CareSet, a research organization that works to make the health care system more transparent. That compares to $2…
Regarding The Herald's coverage of the disagreement between Everett Clinic and Regence's Medicare Advantage plans, whenever the profit motive enters the equation, the patient is always the one that suffers. For-profit corporations exist for one reason: to make as much profit as possible. There are two ways to do this: Charge as much as you can for the product…
In her early 20 s, Karisa Hunt learned the hard lesson of what happens when someone rations life-preserving medication. Once she was out of college and on her own health insurance plan, Hunt couldn't afford the $400 monthly copay. Still, it cost her a doable $75 a month.
The deadline to enroll in California’ s state-run health insurance marketplace, Covered California, is coming soon. Though open enrollment has ended in most of the U.S., Californians have until Jan. 31 to select medical coverage starting Feb. 1. Covered California is a free service that helps individuals find brand-name health insurance under the Patient…
CHEYENNE— The future of a bill in the Wyoming Legislature that extends Medicaid coverage for residents up to a full year postpartum was determined by one vote on Friday. This has led to action across the nation from states such as Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio and Florida, which were approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to extend their coverage to 12…
The program has steadily grown in popularity in Georgia. In Georgia, 10 insurers offered plans for 2023, including big players such as Aetna, Anthem, and Ambetter as well as upstarts like Oscar and Friday. One reason the program has soared in popularity in Georgia is that the Inflation Reduction Act a then- Democratic Congress passed last year increased the…
The annual cost of Leqembi, also called lecanemab, is right now $26,500 and that's why the Alzheimer's Association is advocating for Medicare coverage. Joanne Pike, Alzheimer's Association president and CEO. Scott Griswold, a community educator with the Alzheimer's Association Miami Valley Chapter and a local resident in Urbana who has been diagnosed with…
Most people who have Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas insurance plans would have to pay out-of-network prices if they chose to go to an Ascension hospital. Ascension Texas hospitals might no longer be in-network for people who have Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas insurance plans starting Feb. 1. Patients receiving care at Ascension hospitals who are…
The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday reported significant gains in health insurance coverage across numerous demographics in 2021, two days before the enrollment deadline for ObamaCare. The report issued by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation found that the national rate of uninsured people under the…
Editor's note: This story is part of Care in Crisis, an investigative series that observes the current state of the nursing home system in the West. The project focuses on four states that have struggled more than most with staffing shortages, high turnover rates and other obstacles: Montana, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska. Lee Enterprises' Public Service…
“With Wall Street CEOs warning of financial carnage ahead, governors overseeing some of the nation’ s largest pension systems are bracing for a hit to state investment funds that have long supported benefit plans and cash-strapped budgets,” reported Politico’ s Sam Sutton on Dec. 28.“ The longer the decline, the harder it gets for governments to pay retirement…
Republicans who now control the House will soon try to slash Social Security and Medicare. The interesting questions are why they want to do this, since it appears politically suicidal, and how Democrats will respond. The first bullet point calls for balancing the budget within 10 years, which is mathematically impossible without deep cuts to Social Security,…
With pharmacies in some states preparing to dispense abortion pills, Florida’ s Agency for Healthcare Administration sent a letter Thursday to all state healthcare providers warning them that do so in Florida is illegal. “The Agency issues this alert to remind providers that they must continue to comply with Florida laws that govern the performance of…
DeSantis went to The Villages, the sprawling Central Florida retirement haven, to announce the outlines of a plan intended to restrict PBM practices that he said make customers buy costlier drugs, force them into mail-order pharmacies to have prescriptions filled, and hurt local pharmacies. He was an early backer of efforts by former President Donald Trump's…
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint Thursday against embattled Louisiana nursing home magnate Bob Dean, alleging that Dean misspent and misallocated $4 million from his nursing homes, lining his personal bank accounts with the misspent money. The DOJ lawsuit may be the most daunting of Dean's escalating legal troubles, though he also faces state…
AHIP focusing on health care affordability and accessibility in 2023
Other challenges the health insurance industry must address include an unprecedented workforce shortage in health care, an unprecedented demand for mental health care and increased rates of substance abuse.
