Medicare officials are beginning a review of Biogen Inc.’s new Alzheimer’s drug to decide whether to standardize coverage of the medicine nationally, a widely-anticipated step that would allow the government to place limits on who can receive the medicine. The review of Biogen’s drug, called Aduhelm, will include an analysis of published clinical studies and medical society guidelines, as well as two public hearings later this month to assess the therapy’s benefits, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Monday.
The Biden administration’s decision to reevaluate Georgia’s plan to overhaul how state residents buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act came as a "surprise" and suggests it wants to revisit the plan’s approval, which is not allowed, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said. Georgia’s plan — dubbed "Georgia Access" — would improve the experience of shopping for insurance and encourage the private sector to enroll uninsured Georgia residents, the director of Kemp’s Office of Health Strategy and Coordination said in a letter to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Highmark Inc. continues to expand membership, this time with agreement to buy the half of Medicaid managed care insurer Gateway Health that Highmark doesn’t already own. Highmark, a health insurer and hospital network operator, is seeking state regulatory approval to acquire Downtown-based Gateway Health from Trinity Health of Livonia, Mich. Highmark has owned 50% of Gateway since the founding of the nonprofit insurer in 1992.
Iowa Medicaid officials said the state plans to start taking applications for a third managed care organization later this year. Iowa has had just two managed care organizations for its Medicaid program since United Healthcare left the state in June 2019. Amerigroup and Iowa Total Care, which joined the state on July 1, 2019, the day after United Healthcare officially pulled out, are the state's two current MCOs.
Amazon's medical service has approached several health plans to become a covered benefit. That would allow Amazon to reach more people and more companies.
California will soon provide state-subsidized healthcare for most undocumented immigrants in the state. Undocumented California residents under the age of 26 already had access to the state’s Medi-Cal healthcare plan. Under the new budget, that’s expanded to undocumented people over the age of 50 as well, so the only age group left out is people age 26 to 50.