Dr. Cynthia Southern expects the phone to ring often in her Pulaski County dental office beginning Thursday, when Virginia expands its Medicaid program to provide a comprehensive dental benefit to poor adults. More than 750,000 Virginians will become eligible for a benefit that the state believes will transform their health, help them land jobs and make eating a pleasure again. "A lot of people in our area are going to use that benefit," said Southern, whose practice in the town of Pulaski serves not only the county, but also surrounding jurisdictions in the mountains of rural Southwest Virginia about 50 miles south of Roanoke.
Express Scripts is suing the U.S. government, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The pharmacy benefit manager, owned by health insurer Cigna, is demanding $43 million in tax refunds from 2010 and 2011, alleging the IRS wrongfully denied the company's use of a now-repealed income tax deduction.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is calling lawmakers back into a special session to work out a deal on a critical piece of Medicaid funding. Parson announced in a tweet on Tuesday that he is calling a special session beginning noon Wednesday so lawmakers can pass a tax on medical providers that draws down a significant amount of federal Medicaid funding. At issue is an effort by some Republican lawmakers to stop Medicaid coverage for some contraceptives. Parson, a Republican, says time is running out for lawmakers to cut a deal and protect the funding.
West Virginia has picked Humana Inc. to continue providing health insurance for the 54,000 retirees eligible for Medicare and their dependents in the state. The state’s public employees’ insurance agency awarded the health provider a new, four-year contract last week. "We value the relationship we have built with the Humana team over the past 11 years," the head of the agency, Ted Cheatham, said in a statement. "The personal approach that Humana brings will allow us to ensure the health and well-being of our retirees for years to come."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by health insurance companies to seek a full reimbursement from the federal government under a provision of the Obamacare law aimed at encouraging them to offer medical coverage to uninsured Americans.
Medicaid payments are like starvation wages for doctors and hospitals. But to insurers, the government-paid health insurance for low-income families is a feast worth fighting over. Pennsylvania is trying for the third time since 2015 to replace its Medicaid contracts — worth a total of $65 billion over the last five years — with companies that manage physical health benefits for 2.6 million Pennsylvanians.