Eat Your Veggies!
How do we increase the promotion of produce prescriptions in the never-ending quest to implement and integrate social determinants of health? As of 2010, diet has surpassed smoking as the leading cause of death for Americans—which translates to hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to combat diseases stemming from poor health and diet. Data ...
Work Requirement Waiver Approvals Vacated in Kentucky and Arkansas
On March 27, 2019, Judge James Boasberg of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued rulings on back-to-back cases addressing work requirement eligibility criteria included in Section 1115 waiver applications submitted by the states of Arkansas and Kentucky. Judge Boasberg again ruled against the implementation of a Medicaid work requirement in Kentucky, while ...
Newly-Elected Governors Set Their Sights on Healthcare Reforms
The new year brought changes to state leadership across the nation, with 19 governors newly entering the corner office—seven of whom took over from an administration on the other end of the political spectrum. This refresh has brought a surge of new ideas and energy in the realm of state health policy. Below, we highlight …
Insights from the AHIP National Health Policy Conference
Last week, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) held its annual health policy conference (#AHIPPOLICY) in Washington DC, with top industry leaders, regulators and policy makers convened to provide diverse voices and perspectives on today’s most urgent health care issues. The conference themes were familiar and front-of-mind topics: tackling the opioid epidemic, rising prescription drug costs, data ...
2019 Brings Progress on Prescription Drug Cost Control Efforts at State and Federal Level
As states and the federal government grapple with how best to address the issue of rising prescription drug costs, various models have emerged at the federal level that are similar to efforts underway at the State level. The Administration has called upon states to create innovative approaches to state Medicaid programs, particularly by examining value-based ...
Health Policy News Hosts Webinar on Annual Exchange Guidance
On February 7, 2019, the Health Policy News team hosted a webinar highlighting the proposed changes outlined in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) long-awaited annual Exchange guidance (proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2020 and the 2020 Draft Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges) released on January 17, 2019. ...
Update on Medicaid Buy-In Efforts: Public Impressions and Specific Approaches to Medicaid Buy-in Programs
Many states considering a Medicaid buy-in public option have expressed the hope that it will provide an affordable coverage option for individuals, noting that insurance remains highly costly even for those individuals receiving Federal premium subsidies or employer contributions. States across the country have or will be exploring the feasibility and options available to them ...
Two Insurance Markets, Similar Stories to Tell
Massachusetts and New Hampshire held public meetings this past fall aimed at providing insights into the factors affecting health care costs in their respective states. The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) held its sixth annual Cost Trend Hearing on October 16th and 17th. The New Hampshire Health Insurance Department (NHID) held its annual hearing at ...
1115 Waiver Decisions issued by CMS
As we addressed in our report this past Spring, the use of Section 1115 Medicaid Waivers to address rising drug costs was a notable feature of the Federal administration’s recent drug proposal, and is an emerging policy trend.[1] The Federal administration’s 2019 budget proposes providing five states with Medicaid demonstration authority to test “drug coverage ...
Bipartisan Bill to Tackle the Opioid Epidemic Signed into Law
The Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (“SUPPORT Act”) was signed into law by the President on October 24, 2018, after passing the House and Senate with bipartisan support. A press release issued by the Senate explained that the Act aims to target the opioid epidemic ...