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…
Policy Updates
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…
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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…
An Illinois bill proposed Feb. 2 would require commercial health insurers and HMOs to pay a combined $100 million annual assessment to fund behavioral health crisis services, shifting costs that currently fall on Medicaid and local governments. The crisis resources…
Independence Blue Cross (IBX) is rolling out a severity-based payment approach for emergency inpatient admissions under Medicare Advantage, following a similar policy from Aetna that took effect earlier this year. Under the new policy, effective March 5, IBX will use…
Fourteen health insurers have voluntarily committed to CMS’ “Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions” model, according to a Feb. 12 CMS news release shared with Becker’s. The insurers that are on board will work toward achieving alignment with the…
Vermont Republican state Reps. Patricia McCoy and Francis McFaun introduced a bill in January to shake up how payers operate in the state. The proposed legislation grants the governor a greater say in the makeup of health insurance company boards.…