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Compliance

This section focuses on health care compliance and regulations – both national and state – including the ACA. It includes changes in health care law, regulation, and court decisions and their impact on health insurance professionals, employers, and individuals.

Medicare Urged To Flex Its Power And Slash Back Premium Hike

The head of a Senate panel that oversees Medicare says the Biden administration should use its legal authority to cut back a hefty premium increase soon hitting millions of enrollees, as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers call for action amid worries over rising inflation.

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Suit by Doctors, Hospitals Seeks Change in How Arbitrators Settle Surprise Billing Cases

Two of the largest lobbying groups representing physicians and hospitals filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a Biden administration decision on how to implement the law shielding patients from most surprise medical bills. The lawsuit from the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association does not seek to halt the law from going into effect in January. Instead, ...

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Omicron Variant More Resistant To Vaccine But Causes Less Severe COVID, Major South African Study Concludes

Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus but is more resistant to the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine widely used in South Africa, according to the first major private study since omicron was first detected last month. The study by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest health insurer, of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases, of which 78,000 ...

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Nearly One-Third Of Americans Skipped Care In Past Three Months Due To Cost: Poll

Almost one-third of Americans skipped necessary medical care in the past three months because they could not afford it, according to a poll released Tuesday. The survey from the West Health Policy Center and Gallup found that 30 percent of participants said they opted out of health care due to the cost — a percentage that tripled from ...

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Senate Passes Bill To Delay Nearly 10% In Medicare Cuts Expected To Start In January

The Senate passed legislation late Thursday that delays nearly 10% in Medicare cuts set to take effect next year, giving providers a major boost. The Senate passed the bill by 59 to 35 on Thursday, sending the legislation to President Biden after a successful House vote earlier this week. The bill included a provision to ...

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Lawmakers Blast Pharma For ‘Outrageous’ Prices And ‘Anticompetitive Conduct’ In Culmination Of 3-Year Probe

For years, drugmakers have targeted “weaknesses” in the U.S. healthcare system to reap dividends on older meds, The House Oversight Committee said Friday. The “outrageous prices” and “anticompetitive conduct” that dictate the market make a strong case for the passing of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which would allow Medicare to petition for ...

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CDC: Flu Virus Detections On The Rise, Early Signs Vaccination Down

Influenza virus detections are rising in the U.S., according to health officials. In a weekly influenza surveillance report ending on Dec. 4, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that while influenza activity remains low nationally, it continues to increase. “The number of influenza viruses detected by clinical and public health labs has increased in recent ...

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What Devices Like Apple, Google Smartwatches Are Beginning To Display About Our Health

Fitness trackers from companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google are making a significant shift from being low-tech devices that counted steps to now becoming what’s fashionable in personal health. Tracking fitness and workout data for personal use or sharing with friends can be useful and fun. But there’s an increasing interest in incorporating a wider range of medical data ...

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U.S. To Not Reimburse Private Health Insurers For Covering At-Home COVID Test Costs

The U.S. government will not reimburse private health insurance companies for covering the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests, a White House official said on Thursday.

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Omicron: What Do We Know About The New COVID Variant?

Three major issues will determine the magnitude of the impact of the new Omicron variant of the Covid virus will have on the nation and the rest of the planet. What is the transmissibility of this new Covid variant? How good is it at evading the antibodies and T-cells that make up a person’s immune defences?

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