HHS and CMS extended postpartum coverage in New York through Medicaid and CHIP for an entire year; a minimum of 1.7 million Americans use health sharing plans, even though they lack protections; Pfizer expects pediatric syphilis drug Bicillin L-A to experience a shortage.
HHS, through CMS, on Tuesday announced New York’s continuation of comprehensive coverage following pregnancy through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for postpartum people for an entire year, according to CMS.gov. This announcement indicates vital progress in the improvement of maternal health, especially in underserved communities. New York is the 35th state authorized to provide the extended coverage by way of President Joes Biden’s American Rescue Plan and solidified by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
The first reported national count of Americans who depend on health care sharing plans—in which people agree to pay each other’s medical bills—is higher than previously thought, reported KFF Health News. A Colorado Division of Insurance report discovered that more than 1.7 million Americans rely on sharing plans and that a lot of the plans demand members to request charity care prior to submitting their bills. It is expected that the total numbers are even higher. Sharing plans don’t ensure payment for health services and are not held against the same standards and protections as health insurance plans.
Pfizer has cautioned that supply of a drug used to treat syphilis and other bacterial infections in children could be exhausted by June’s end because it has had to prioritize forms made for adults because of a spike of syphilis infections in that population, according to Reuters. The pediatric form of the drug, Bicillin L-A, is expected to run out by the end of this quarter, according to the company. Pfizer said it is prioritizing adult dosages of Bicillin L-A that are also in shortage but stated that it does not expect them to run out.
Covering antiobesity medications like semaglutide could save Medicare around $500 million annually; preliminary CDC data showed a 3% decline in the number of US overdose deaths last year; the Biden administration recently announced the first national maternal mental health strategy.
Read More
After the ACA Expanded Health Care Access, 2024 Elections May See Voters Demand Affordability
May 15th 2024At the spring conference of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, speakers discussed how health policy, affordability, and transparency may play a role in voters’ decisions.
Read More
CMS Medicare Final Rule: Advancing Benefits, Competition, and Consumer Protection
May 7th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Karen Iapoce, senior director of government products and programs at ZeOmega, about the recent CMS final rule on Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage.
Listen
House lawmakers are expected to advance a contracting ban today on 5 Chinese research firms; US government officials temporarily relaxed strict guidelines on how laboratories handle, store, and transport H5N1 bird flu samples; a recent report found that the number of abortions occurring in the US continued to grow despite bans.
Read More