UnitedHealth Group is bracing for scrutiny from the Trump administration over the way it and other Medicare Advantage insurers bill the government, along with other cost-related topics, an executive at the health company told Axios.
In New York, state officials, advocates and the health care provider community have been engaged in a policy tug-of-war over efforts to protect consumers. Patient advocates don't want them to get stuck signing blank-check forms that put them in financial jeopardy. Doctors, hospitals and other providers don't want to disrupt their practices' workflow and payment logistics with cost discussions and paperwork, especially after services have been provided.
Mayo Clinic has reached a settlement with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office that makes certain patients presumptively eligible for charity care and limits how the health system collects on medical debt. The Rochester-based nonprofit healthcare provider, which denied wrongdoing and disputed the attorney general's findings, will no longer collect debts through lawsuits other than in "extraordinary circumstances," according to Ellison's office. The agreement between the health care provider and the state's chief enforcer of consumer protection laws ended a two-year investigation into allegations that Mayo Clinic was suing to collect on debts from patients who were eligible for charity care.
While legislators from each political party have their own perspective on how the negotiations behind the faltering budget plan to address the imminent $118 million Medicaid funding shortfall have gone down, health care providers and those in the forest industry say they are not focused on the “he said, she said.”
As Congress works to pass a stopgap funding bill this week, Wisconsin health advocates are keeping an eye on several extensions for Medicare programs providing telehealth services and rural hospital funding.