Reimbursement

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is developing a new model for how it pays dual-eligible health plans after an analysis showed it was underpaying these plans.

Two-thirds of the 131 carriers that offered silver-level preferred provider organization plans in 2015 will either drop them entirely or offer fewer of them in January, and those cutbacks will affect customers in 37 states, according to the foundation.

Healthcare spending grew by 3.4 percent in 2014, a new report by the Health Care Cost Institute found, even though overall utilization declined.

The Massachusetts hospitals follow the exit of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire last month.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is developing a new model for how it pays dual-eligible health plans after an analysis showed it was underpaying these plans.

Two-thirds of the 131 carriers that offered silver-level preferred provider organization plans in 2015 will either drop them entirely or offer fewer of them in January, and those cutbacks will affect customers in 37 states, according to the foundation.

Republican said he would curtail the state's expansion of Medicaid by seeking a waiver for a more restrictive version of the program.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay for end-of-life services, bringing to a close a debate that started with false "death panel" claims during negotiations over the Affordable Care Act and is ending with coverage for families so they can discuss the care patients receive when they are dying.

The average 2016 premium for a 40-year-old in Anchorage is $719 a month - more than double the national average, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

HealthPlus of Michigan is merging with Health Alliance Plan, forming a larger, competitive plan while bailing out the struggling HealthPlus business.