HealthPayerIntelligence News

Judge Blocks FL Ban on Medicaid Coverage for Gender-Affirming Care

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A federal judge has blocked Florida’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, stating that the rule violated federal law and was politically motivated. The ban’s inception...

Blue Cross MN Commercial Plans Will Cover Peer Support Specialists

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) is improving member access to mental health resources by adding coverage of peer support specialists to commercial plans next year. “As the...

Cash Payments Could Help Medicaid Beneficiaries Obtain Better Coverage

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Cash payments that phase out based on income could allow Medicaid beneficiaries to shift away from low-quality care under safety net healthcare coverage to higher-quality care through private payer...

MedPAC Offers Changes to Medicare Advantage Benefits, Payment Policies

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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) June 2023 report to Congress offered recommendations for addressing disparate Medicare Advantage plan benefits and the future of Medicare...

How Value-Based Purchasing Program Design Influences Outcomes

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Payers should consider program design intensity when implementing value-based purchasing contracts, as higher-intensity programs can lead to better care quality and greater spending reductions, a...

Employer Sponsored Health Plan Enrollment Will Hit 159M in 2033

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Employer-sponsored health plan enrollment among nonelderly Americans will grow after 2025, accompanied by higher private payer premiums, a Health Affairs study found. The study used Congressional...

KFF: Over Half of Insured Adults Face Problems with Health Insurance

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More than half of adults experienced problems with their health insurance, with issues ranging from payment discrepancies to limited mental healthcare coverage, a KFF survey found. The survey was...

New York Extends Medicaid Postpartum Coverage to 12 Months After Birth

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New York has extended Medicaid postpartum coverage, marking the 35th state that will provide comprehensive coverage to individuals for 12 months after pregnancy, HHS and CMS announced. “New...

Medicare Advantage Overpayments Expected to Surpass $75B in 2023

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Medicare Advantage overpayments may exceed $75 billion in 2023 due to favorable selection of Medicare Advantage plans, data from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics...

End of COVID-19 Policies Will Influence National Healthcare Spending

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CMS’s Office of the Actuary reported that the average annual growth in national healthcare spending between 2022 and 2031 will exceed the average annual growth in gross domestic product...

Inflationary Rebates for Generic Drugs Offset Medicaid Spending

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Inflationary rebates for generic drugs helped offset Medicaid spending from 2017 to 2020, but additional policies are needed to improve generic competition, according to a study published in Health...

How COVID-19 Policies Impacted Medicaid Enrollment Among Children

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Medicaid enrollment among children surged during the coronavirus pandemic, fueled in certain states by policies in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) that helped maintain coverage, a...

Health Plans Must Continue Covering Preventive Care Services

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A federal appeals court approved an agreement between parties in Braidwood Management v Becerra, preserving the mandate requiring health plans to cover preventive care services based on recommendations...

Lawmakers Request More Info on Medicaid Redetermination Compliance

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Lawmakers are calling on CMS and HHS to provide additional information on Medicaid redetermination standards following early reports of disenrollments due to administrative issues. In a letter to HHS...

Coronavirus Pandemic Policies May Have Improved Care Affordability

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Coronavirus pandemic policies may have helped curb unmet care, unaffordability in care, and certain care disparities, but these trends could also reflect lower overall care utilization due to...

AHIP Urges 4 Types of Policies to Reduce Healthcare Spending

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AHIP offered four recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee on Consolidation and Competition (the Committee) to support healthy competition and lower healthcare spending in the healthcare...

Rising Enrollment, Higher Costs Spur Medicare Spending Growth

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Rising Medicare enrollment and higher healthcare costs have contributed to significant growth in Medicare spending over the last two decades, according to data from KFF. Medicare provides health...

SCAN, CareOregon Grants Help Eliminate $110M in Medical Debt

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SCAN and CareOregon have granted $345,000 to a nonprofit organization that helps eliminate medical debt, a move expected to erase $110 million in debt for residents across five states. RIP Medical...

5 Strategies for Designing a Medicaid Family Planning Program

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States can improve their Medicaid family planning programs by addressing five key areas: eligibility and enrollment, consumer outreach and education support, covered services, confidentiality, and...

BCBSTX Provider Network Expansion Improves Behavioral Healthcare Access

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) is improving behavioral healthcare access for members with an expanded provider network and additional telehealth offerings. After the payer expanded its...