Enrollment for ACA Coverage Declined for the First Time
Amid Republican talk to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and a temporary halt on ads calling people to sign up, enrollment through HealthCare.gov dipped. According to POLITICO, 9.2 million people signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov, a decline over the previous open enrollment season. The deadline to sign up had been January 31, and just days before the Trump administration decided to nix the remainder of the ad campaign calling people to sign up. Enrollment numbers for the 11 states and the District of Columbia that use their own exchanges have yet to be counted.
Block Grant Idea Faces Increased Opposition
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are facing increased opposition to an idea of using block grants to fund Medicaid. Block grants would provide a fixed amount of money to each state, and opponents say it would reduce benefits, according to Forbes. AARP has come out against the proposed strategy, claiming that it would end guaranteed access to care. With opposition mounting, some think Republicans will back off of block grants—which the party has been interested in for 20 years—and instead turn to per capita caps.
California Bill Bans Drug Coupons
A new bill in California would ban coupons from drug makers to help lower the cost of copayments for some drugs. California Healthline reported that the bill would prohibit coupons for drugs that have cheaper, FDA-approved equivalents. According to assembly member Jim Wood, who introduced the bill, drug coupons are driving patients to use higher-priced drugs, which in turn drive up premiums.
California Aims for Equity by Redefining Cancer Care
December 8th 2023Authors highlight key aspects of the California Cancer Care Equity Act, including its focus on Medi-Cal beneficiaries, the requirement for managed care plans to contract with specialized cancer centers, and the definition of complex cancers.
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Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Thyme Care CEO and Cofounder Robin Shah
October 2nd 2023Robin Shah, CEO of Thyme Care, which he founded in 2020 with Bobby Green, MD, president and chief medical officer, joins hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, to discuss his evolution as an entrepreneur in oncology care innovation and his goal of positively changing how patients experience the cancer system.
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Patients With RA in Remission Withdrawing From TNF Inhibition Show Flare Increases
December 8th 2023New data presented at ACR 2023 highlighted the differences in rates of flares and Boolean 2.0 remission rates compared to patients with rheumatoid arthritis who continued a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi).
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Insufficient Data, Disparities Plague Lung Cancer Risk Factor Documentation
September 24th 2023On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the senior author of a study published in the September 2023 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® on the importance of adequate and effective lung cancer risk factor documentation to determine a patient's eligibility for screening.
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Research Reveals the Role of Structural Racism in Lung Cancer Risk
December 7th 2023Spanning 22 studies, the analysis illuminated housing disparities, occupational hazards, unequal health care access, economic inequality, and discriminatory industry practices and how they collectively contribute to heightened lung cancer risks.
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Refining Precision Prevention for Benign Breast Disease
December 7th 2023Many questions remain surrounding accurately classifying the risk of developing invasive breast cancer associated with the benign breast disease diagnoses of nonproliferative lesions and proliferative changes without atypia.
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