Author's posts
Association Health Plans and Small Businesses
“If association health plans ever become widely popular, small businesses will either be forced to buy plans that offer less comprehensive coverage or pay much more than they do now for higher-quality insurance.” – John Arensmeyer, Small Business Major…
How the Trump Administration Is Browbeating Big Pharma on Drug Prices
Last May, in a highly anticipated speech in the sun-drenched White House Rose Garden, President Trump laid out his long-awaited plan to lower drug prices. Democrats dismissed the proposals as toothless and well short of the president’s campaign promise…
Health Care Industry Branches into Fresh Meals, Rides to Gym
Health care is shifting in a fundamental way for millions of Americans. Some insurers are paying for rides to fitness centers and checking in with customers to help ward off loneliness. Hospital networks are hiring more workers to visit people at home …
Trump Administration, in Reversal, Will Resume Risk Payments to Health Insurers
The Trump administration, in an abrupt reversal, said Tuesday that it would restart a program that pays billions of dollars to insurers to stabilize health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The administration suspended the program …
Meet the Rebate, the New Villain of High Drug Prices
An increasingly popular culprit in the debate over high drug prices is the pharmaceutical rebate, the after-the-fact discounts that form the heart of the nation’s arcane — many would say broken — market for prescription drugs. Now, a growing chorus wan…
Déjà Voodoo: Pharma’s Promises to Curb Drug Prices Have Been Heard Before
Prescription drug prices were soaring. Angry policymakers swore they’d take action. Pharma giant Merck responded by promising to address the problem voluntarily, vowing to keep price increases under the overall rate of inflation. “We believe these mode…
A Vote Expanded Medicaid in Maine. The Governor Is Ignoring It.
Ignoring the binding vote, Gov. Paul LePage has refused to expand the program, blasting it as a needless, budget-busting form of welfare. He vetoed five expansion bills before the issue made the ballot, plus a spending bill this month that provided abo…
Red States May Be Ready to Expand Medicaid — in Exchange for Work
In several states this year, the march to bring health care benefits to more low-income residents came with the insistence that able-bodied adults — who are just a fraction of all Medicaid recipients — put in hours of work or volunteer time each month …
How States Are Defining Essential Health Benefits
Two states so far have taken advantage of the federal government’s decision to give them more leeway in defining the essential health benefits that individual and small group insurers must offer consumers. Those states — Alabama and Illinois — diverged…
How States Are Defining Essential Health Benefits
Two states so far have taken advantage of the federal government’s decision to give them more leeway in defining the essential health benefits that individual and small-group insurers must offer consumers. Those states — Alabama and Illinois — diverged…
