Medicare & Medicaid
Drug companies have said they are hamstrung by the current pharmacy benefit manager system, says HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Beyond cost, CMS said it adopted the lower payments for hospital outpatient facilities as a method to control unnecessary increases in the volume of services furnished there.
The AHA is calling on CMS to "abandon further illegal cuts for 2020" that CMS says would save Medicare $800 million.
In a move insurers considered a bait and switch, Congress limited the funding available to compensate insurers for their losses.
Open enrollment is ongoing as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to soon rule whether the ACA is constitutional.
After a slower growth rate in 2017, 2018 saw growth rates about equal to those of 2016, driven in part by the reinstatement of a fee on insurers.
It's the unanticipated consequence of the 2017 cut of the ACA's cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurers.
The tax is scheduled to go into effect in 2020.
Buttigieg would combat racial and gender bias in part by redirecting funding to under-resourced communities.
With less than two weeks to enroll, both the number of new and renewing consumers increased this year over last.