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Smokers May Face Insurance Premium Hikes
Some smokers may pay higher premiums for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. In an interview on Kaiser Health News, Michelle Andrews discusses how the health law will affect insurance for smokers, and programs that may help them quit:
The provisions that allow insurers to charge smokers higher premiums take effect in January and apply to health plans sold on the individual and small group markets that aren't grandfathered under the law. The insurer may well rely on people to self-report their tobacco use, asking them, for example, if they've used tobacco regularly in the past six months. You're apparently concerned that people won't disclose that they're smokers, and some may not. But it's important to remember that research shows that most smokers want to quit, and under the health law people won't be penalized as long as they're trying to do so, even if they don't succeed. If a company has a wellness program that offers a tobacco cessation program and if smokers participate in it, they're not going to have to pay the higher rate. Participation is enough, workers don't have to actually succeed at quitting, which often takes several tries. So that may encourage people to 'fess up to their smoking habit.
Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/1a7eWRY
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Dr Dalia Rotstein: Physicians Must Be Aware MS Affects People of All Backgrounds
April 24th 2024Dalia Rotstein, MD, MPH, emphazises the importance of awareness that multiple sclerosis (MS) impacts patients from various backgrounds as clinicians think through ways to improve access to care and research efforts in MS.
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Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
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What We’re Reading: Abortion Privacy Rules; Alzheimer Drug Hurdles; Nursing Home Staffing Overhaul
April 23rd 2024New health privacy rules aim to protect patients and providers in an evolving abortion landscape; some physicians express concerns about efficacy, risks, and entrenched beliefs in treating Alzheimer disease; CMS addresses longstanding staffing deficits in nursing homes.
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Award-Winning Poster Presentations From AMCP 2024
April 23rd 2024At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting, multiple poster presentations concerned with health equity, data collection, glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, and more were acknowledged for their originality, relevance, clarity, bias, and quality.
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