The ACR and a number of other physician medical associations are lobbying for an immediate legislative fix to a piece of the MACRA law that factors high-cost Part B drugs into a rheumatology practice’s Medicare reimbursement rate through the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). This change, which goes into effect immediately, will impact practices in…
(Reuters Health)—Even when consumers have health plans that require them to pay a high amount out-of-pocket for care, they often don’t talk to doctors about the price of treatments or shop around to get the best deal, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers focused on high-deductible health plans, which typically have lower monthly premiums than other…
Greetings, advocates! This month’s Washington update covers how Congress’s tax proposals affect rheumatology, the ACR’s plan to fight Medicare’s adjustments to Part B drug costs in MIPS, the good news of Medicare’s new individualized biosimilar reimbursement, advances in the rheumatology-specific Alternative Payment Model and developments in Congress’s awareness about the perilous pharmacy benefit manager system….
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—More than 800,000 people signed up for Obamacare individual health insurance plans in the second week of open enrollment, U.S. government health officials said on Wednesday, bringing the total number of sign-ups to nearly 1.5 million so far. There is particular scrutiny of how Affordable Care Act programs are faring after a year in…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The head of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee proposed major changes to a Republican tax reform plan, adding a repeal of Obamacare’s health insurance mandate and making corporate tax cuts permanent while ending individual cuts in 2025. In a statement late on Tuesday, committee chairman Orrin Hatch said the proposed changes would also slightly…
NEW YORK (Reuters)— Consumer sign-ups for Obamacare individual insurance plans were more than 600,000 during the first week of enrollment for 2018, a U.S. health agency said on Thursday, a positive sign for insurers who take part in the healthcare program that Republicans are trying to undo. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a…
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Uber Technologies Inc and some smaller technology companies are launching campaigns to publicize Obamacare enrollment among their contract workers after the Trump administration slashed government marketing for the health program by 90 percent. Freelance and contract workers are an important part of the workforce for many Silicon Valley companies, including drivers at Uber…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said that repealing the individual mandate for health insurance would reduce the federal budget deficit less than first forecast as it readied a revised analysis of a policy shift favored by Republicans. The CBO, the nonpartisan budget-scoring agency, said in a statement on its website that eliminating the…
(Reuters)—Maine Republican Governor Paul LePage said on Wednesday he will not expand the state’s Medicaid program under Obamacare, ignoring a ballot initiative widely backed by voters, calling it “ruinous” for the state’s budget. Maine looked set to become the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid by popular vote. About 60% of voters in…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—President Donald Trump’s 90% cut to Obamacare advertising has U.S. health insurers in many states digging deeper into their pockets to get the word out about 2018 enrollment, which opened last week. Independence Blue Cross, a health insurer in Pennsylvania, has commissioned a tractor-trailer truck to bring insurance consultants out to shopping centers…