Republicans Push Medicaid Work Requirement
The House Budget Committee voted on a conservative healthcare proposal: requiring able-bodied adults to have a job to qualify for Medicaid. According to The Washington Post, the panel also recommended ending Medicaid expansion sooner than the American Health Care Act (AHCA)’s timeline and converting Medicaid to a block grant. Meanwhile, the AHCA is likely to undergo changes. House Speaker Paul Ryan said that the GOP is looking at ways to provide better assistance to people in their 50s and 60s, who would pay higher premiums under the health plan.
Offering the Ability to Refuse Opioids
More states are considering ways to let people refuse being prescribed opioids. The “non-opioid directive” being considered by Connecticut and Alaska would let patients include a note in their medical files that informs healthcare providers that they do not want opioids, reported the AP. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania created similar laws last year in an attempt to prevent someone who is recovering from addiction from relapsing.
Former FDA Commissioners: Do Not Import Drugs
During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump floated the idea of legalizing the importation of drugs from other countries. However, the 4 more recent commissioners of the FDA—2 who served under Barack Obama and 2 who served under George W. Bush—have all come out against the idea. Furthermore, Scott Gottlieb, MD, Trump’s nominee for the position, has also voiced concerns that the strategy would not only pose cost and safety issues, but would achieve the objective of cheaper drugs.
Dr Kathryn Lindley on Pregnancy-Related Cardiovascular Care Gaps and Training Initiatives
December 8th 2023Cardiologists need skills in risk assessment, contraception counseling, and hypertension management for pregnant patients, according to Kathryn Lindley, MD, FACC, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Read More
Understanding the Unmet Need for Therapies to Treat Rare Bile Duct Cancer
May 24th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we bring you an excerpt of an interview with a co-chair of the 2022 Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (CCF) annual conference, held earlier this year, about the significant unmet therapy needs facing most patients with this rare cancer.
Listen
What We’re Reading: RSV Vaccine Demand; Permanent Contraception; Drug Negotiation Impact
December 8th 2023The Biden administration recently met with manufacturers of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunizations to encourage them to increase access to the vaccine; since the Dobbs v Jackson decision, many patients have been seeking more permanent reproductive health care solutions; a Mathematica analysis showed that Medicare prescription drug price negotiations could have cut seniors’ out-of-pocket costs by nearly a quarter had the program been in effect in 2021.
Read More