Insurers Urge SCOTUS To Take A Look At Appeals Court Ruling On ACA Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments

Two insurers are urging the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that they say could prevent many plans from receiving the full amount in owed cost-sharing reduction payments.

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Deal Reached To Get California Children Back In Classrooms

The majority of California’s 6.1 million public school students could be back in the classroom by April under new legislation announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders. Critics panned the plan as inadequate.

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The Democrats Are About To Set A Whopper Of An Obamacare Political Time Bomb For Republicans

Contained inside the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans. Included in the bill’s long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden’s promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Obamacare’s big failure has been what it did not do to help––and actually ...

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California’s Vaccine Sites Don’t All Require Proof Of Eligibility, Leaving Room For Line Jumpers

When Doug Garfinkel, a San Francisco teacher, walked into Walgreens last week to get his first coronavirus shot, he was surprised no one asked for identification or proof that he was the educator he said he was when he made his appointment online. Garfinkel, whose profession became eligible for vaccination last week, said he understands ...

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One Medical’s Coronavirus Vaccine Practices Spark Congressional Investigation

The consequences are deepening for concierge health care provider One Medical following an NPR investigation that found the company administered COVID-19 vaccinations to those with connections to leadership, as well as ineligible patients. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is launching its own investigation into the San Francisco-based company’s practices, NPR has learned. The probe ...

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Employers Cut Health Costs With Incentives for Patients, Doctors

Employers can cut their health-care expenses by paying top medical providers a flat rate for a bundle of related services while offering incentives to the patients who use them, a study suggests. The study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, found that employers using a flat-rate approach run by Carrum Health saved about 11% ...

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Biden To Announce ‘Historic Partnership’: Merck Will Help Make Johnson & Johnson Coronavirus Vaccine, Officials Say

President Biden will announce Tuesday that pharmaceutical giant Merck will help make Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine — an unusual pact between fierce competitors that could sharply boost the supply of the newly authorized vaccine, according to senior administration officials. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been ...

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‘Please Hear Me Clearly’: CDC Director Urges States Not To Reopen Too Soon As Cases Plateau

The U.S. has hit a plateau in coronavirus cases and deaths that signal a “potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic,” the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned states on Monday not to loosen restrictions and get in front of the progress the country has made since it hit a monumental 300,000 cases a ...

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Biden’s Virus Relief Plan Threatens to Trigger Medicare Cuts

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package would trigger cuts to Medicare and other programs early next year unless Republicans agree to a waiver — a hurdle that could give the GOP leverage over Democrats’ slim majorities. The Congressional Budget Office said in a letter Thursday to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that Medicare would face ...

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Health Insurers Have To Cover COVID-19 Tests For Asymptomatic People, CMS Says

CMS issued a guidance Feb. 26 that requires group health plans to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing even if a person doesn’t have symptoms or a suspected exposure, among other requirements. Five things to know: 1. The guidance clarifies that private group health plans generally can’t use medical screening criteria to deny coverage for COVID-19 tests for ...

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