Health Insurers Walk Back on Pledge to Improve Denials Process

One year after the Trump administration announced that dozens of health insurers had signed a six-part pledge promising to reduce barriers to doctor-recommended care, some insurers now say they won’t implement all the promised initiatives. Meanwhile, patients, their advocates, and clinicians say little has improved. “It has never been this bad for patients,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy (R…
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New Medicaid Work Requirements May Strip Farmworkers of Health Insurance

Seasonal work. Inconsistent hours. Frequent moves. Cash payments and informal jobs. For farmworkers who rely on Medicaid, these common employment patterns could put their health coverage at risk. It’s a heightened concern for the estimated million-plus farmworkers who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, as new work requirements kick in for the federal-state healthcare program that…
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Insurers Are Pocketing Copay Assistance Funds Meant to Curb Patient Drug Costs

For 16 years, Larry Gruber, a fitness coach from Wilton Manors, Florida, received a coupon card to help him pay for a psoriatic arthritis medication he needs that costs more than $7,700 a month. Each year, Amgen, which makes the drug, called Enbrel, sent the coupon card worth thousands of dollars, and that counted toward Gruber’s health insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum.
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Our Health Care System Is Broken Beyond Repair. We Need Medicare for All.

We are in a health care crisis. Our system of care is beyond dysfunctional, driven by profit, and unable to serve the Americans who are the most vulnerable. In my congressional district, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), the state’s largest safety net hospital, narrowly avoided closure last month after the Minnesota legislature reached a one-time funding deal to bring it back from the…
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Trump’s Attack on Medicaid Will Harm Children’s Long-Term Health, Doctors Warn

The American Academy of Pediatrics warned Wednesday that the Trump administration’s new rule governing Medicaid work requirements will damage the health of children across the US, as additional bureaucratic barriers make it more difficult for families to access and maintain coverage. AAP, the largest professional association of pediatricians in the country, said it “strongly opposes” the rule…
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Universal Health Care Once Seemed on the Horizon in California. What Happened?

California voters are in the thick of a high-stakes governor’s race, in which single-payer health care, an issue that was once central to state politics, has been pushed to the sidelines. Of the top five candidates, only one unequivocally supports a health care model that would finally put California on par with the rest of the industrialized world. Billionaire Tom Steyer…
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