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.

Biden Issuing Pandemic Plan That Aims To Expand Access To Testing And Vaccines, Reopen Schools

President Biden plans Thursday to issue a new national strategy to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and to take executive actions intended to make tests and vaccines more abundant, schools and travel safer, and states better able to afford their role in the long road back to normal life. On his second day in office, ...

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CMS Will Raise Medicare Advantage Plan Payments By 4.08% In 2022

CMS will raise Medicare Advantage plan payments by 4.08%, the agency announced Friday. It also signed off on its controversial proposal to complete a multiyear phase-in of a new payment methodology. The new process will adjust plan payments using diagnoses solely from encounter data—information created by healthcare providers about patients’ medical conditions and treatment.

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CMS Finalizes Drug Transparency, Pharmacy Quality Rules

CMS on Friday finalized a rule it estimates will save the federal government $75.4 million over the next decade in Medicare Advantage and Part D payments, with the agency crediting cost-savings to several measures enacted to curb prescription drug spending. Under the new rule, CMS expanded drug and medication therapy management programs that require Medicare ...

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Dems Take The Senate: What Does It Mean For Health Care?

Victories by Democrats Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff in Georgia’s Senate runoffs Tuesday have changed the dynamics for health-care legislation. However, experts believe that small changes are more likely than major structural overhauls, according to the New York Times.

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Insured Nevadans To Get COVID Vaccine For Free

As Nevada Medicaid, the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange/Nevada Health Link, and the Division of Insurance (DOI) are preparing for the mass vaccination of Nevada residents for COVID-19, many people are asking “how will I get the vaccine?”

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With New Majority, Here’s What Democrats Can (and Can’t) Do on Health Care

The Democrats’ new congressional majority puts a variety of health policy ideas suddenly into reach, even if big structural changes remain unlikely.

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Medicare For All May Die In 2021

A closely divided Congress and a moderate Democrat in Joe Biden in the White House doesn’t bode well for a government-run single payer version of Medicare for All to emerge in 2021 despite the coming end of Donald Trump’s presidency.

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Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets

Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations. Clark, 57, a former insurance agent who lives in Bixby, Oklahoma, had to stop working in 2015 and go on Social Security disability and ...

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Payers Expect Biden to Expand Affordable Care Act in 2021

The American Benefits Council (ABC) issued a release outlining what payers should expect legislatively post-election including COVID-19 relief and stimulus legislation, Affordable Care Act expansion, and other efforts to ensure Americans have access to the coverage they need. “Without the support of a fully Democratic Congress, President-elect Biden’s broad health plan will be largely stalled,” the release ...

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From COVID-19 To Retail Health: Fierce Healthcare’s Biggest Stories Of 2020

2020 was a year dominated by the fallout from a generational global pandemic. So perhaps it's no surprise that COVID-19 headlines also governed much of our coverage over the course of this year, as we shared the latest on how the coronavirus pandemic was impacting you.

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