Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced legislation March 2 that would reverse the Medicaid and ACA changes enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing services for…
Policy Updates
Indiana lawmakers have passed legislation banning health insurers from penalizing hospitals for using out-of-network providers, a direct rebuke of Elevance Health in its home state. The bill received final legislative approval on Feb. 26 and now heads to Gov. Mike…
BCBS Tennessee COO Scott Pierce voiced concerns over pending state bills — accusing them of eventually “forcing higher prices” — in Feb. 26 op-ed columns published in the Leaf Chronicle and The Tennessean. Mr. Pierce took issue with four state…
A coalition of more than 60 employer groups, insurers, patient advocacy and labor organizations sent a letter Feb. 24 to the Treasury Department, Labor Department and HHS, urging the Trump administration to crack down on what they describe as systemic…
President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address Feb. 24 to plug TrumpRx, criticize the ACA and call out possible Medicaid fraud. While the president addressed affordability more broadly, immigration, and trade, healthcare took up some of his…
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The Alabama Senate has passed legislation that would impose new requirements on insurers that use AI to make prior authorization decisions, including a mandate that any decision to deny a request must be made by a physician or other qualified…
Editor’s note: The bill was held without a committee vote on Feb. 23. It is not expected to advance this session. Original article: Arizona providers could face license suspension or revocation for submitting too high of payment offers during No…
Idaho lawmakers introduced a bill Feb. 12 that would incentivize some physicians providing preceptorship training to graduate students — mainly in rural and underserved areas — by cutting Medicaid prior authorization requirements. Primary care, psychiatric or OB-GYN doctors completing at…
The Alabama Senate unanimously passed a bill Feb. 17 that would allow the state’s dominant health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, to reorganize under a nonprofit holding company, a structure that would let the plan launch new subsidiaries…
In February, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed the “Connecticut Option” — a publicly created, but privately administered, health plan — in his 2027 budget proposal. He called for $1 million to outline the policy and conduct a feasibility assessment. He said…