Medicare Medicaid Category

Medicare & Medicaid

News articles in this section include actions by federal regulators like the CMS and HHS, as well as information on Medicare and state Medicaid coverage and benefits.

CMS Extends Special Enrollment Period Qualifications In Latest ACA Rule

The Biden administration finalized a rule that makes it easier for consumers to qualify for a special enrollment period for Affordable Care Act exchange coverage, in addition to several other major changes.

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California Mulls Letting Adults Add Parents To Health Plans

California could become the only state to let adult children add their parents as dependents to their health insurance plans, a policy proposal aimed at increasing insurance coverage among low-income people living in the country illegally who aren’t eligible for government-funded coverage. Former President Barack Obama’s health law let parents keep their adult children on ...

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Reduced Spending, Utilization Drove Health Insurers’ 2020 Profits

Health‌ ‌insurers‌ ‌remained‌ ‌profitable‌ ‌across‌ ‌markets‌ ‌in‌ ‌2020‌ ‌because‌ ‌of‌ ‌an‌ ‌unprecedented‌ ‌decrease‌ ‌in‌ ‌health‌ ‌spending‌ ‌and‌ ‌utilization‌ ‌caused‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌pandemic.‌ ‌ Hospitals,‌ ‌physicians‌ ‌and‌ ‌other‌ ‌health care‌ ‌providers‌ ‌canceled‌ ‌elective‌ ‌procedures‌ ‌to‌ ‌free‌ ‌up‌ ‌beds,‌ ‌staff‌ ‌and‌ ‌supplies‌ ‌early‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌pandemic‌ ‌and‌ ‌to‌ ‌limit‌ ‌unnecessary‌ ‌exposure‌ ‌and‌ ‌risk‌ ‌of‌ ‌infection.‌ ‌Patients‌ ‌also‌ ...

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Biden Calls On Congress To Pass Drug Pricing Legislation This Year

President Biden on Wednesday called for Congress to pass legislation this year that would lower prescription drug prices, seeking to accomplish a long-held Democratic goal. “Let’s do what we’ve always talked about for all the years I was down here in this body in Congress,” Biden said in his first joint address to Congress. “Let’s give Medicare the ...

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Lowering Medicare’s Eligibility Could Lead To Reduced Costs For Employer Sponsored Plans: KFF

Lowering the Medicare eligibility age could also lower costs for employer-sponsored health plans as Democrats pressure President Joe Biden to fulfill his campaign promise to pursue the policy. The Kaiser Family Foundation released two analyses Tuesday centering on lowering Medicare eligibility from 65 to 60. One analysis looked at the savings for employer plans and another the ...

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Insurers Phasing Out Fee-Waivers For COVID Treatment

Just as other industries are rolling back some consumer-friendly changes made early in the pandemic — think empty middle seats on airplanes — so, too, are health insurers.

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Google Cracks Down On Insurance Advertisements Posted On Search Engine

Starting next month, Google will require health insurers to apply for certification for their ads to run on the search engine. The tech giant announced Tuesday that it will only allow insurance ads from certified government exchanges, first-party providers and licensed third-party brokers.

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Dem Senators Urge Biden To Expand Medicare In American Families Plan

A coalition of 17 senators is calling on President Biden to expand Medicare as part of his next massive economic spending bill. In a Sunday letter addressed to the White House, the group of mostly Democrats – led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. – urged Biden to lower the Medicare eligibility age, expand Medicare benefits to include vision, dental ...

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Biden Prodded to ‘Go Big’ on Drug Pricing

Democrats are urging the White House to include their health policy ideas in the next phase of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure push, with hopes of gaining an edge over colleagues with competing plans. Congressional leaders, top senators, and rank-and-file Democrats say they’ve put in calls or made trips to the White House this week plugging ...

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Work In Progress: Price Transparency Efforts Need To Go Further

Efforts to increase health care price transparency are moving forward, but problems remain with the current reforms, raising questions on whether additional steps are needed, a new Rand Corporation study has found. The report, “Barriers to Price and Quality Transparency in Health Care Markets,” noted that recent legislative and regulatory efforts to increase transparency are being implemented: ...

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