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.
United Healthcare, the largest insurer in the US, recently announced a new policy it said would help hold down health care costs: It would review claims for emergency department care, opening up the possibility that the company might deny coverage if a patient’s medical needs were not actually an emergency.
A voter-approved expansion of Medicaid took effect Thursday in Oklahoma after a decade of Republican resistance in a state that has become emblematic of the political struggle to extend the federal health insurance program in conservative strongholds.
An HHS proposed rule released Monday would do away with a Trump-era policy allowing states to bypass HealthCare.gov when seeking enrollees for Obamacare plans. The Department of Health and Human Services is also proposing to extend the annual regular open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act plans by an additional month, from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15 as compared with the current end date of Dec. 15. The new proposed rule (RIN 0938-AU60) supplements the regular annual rule setting parameters for Affordable Care Act plans. The CMS finalized payment parameters for 2022 ACA plans in April.
MassHealth director Dan Tsai is moving on after more than six years running the state’s Medicaid program to join the Biden administration as deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Baker administration announced Tsai’s departure, effective June 29, on Monday. In his new role, the state’s longest-serving Medicaid chief in almost 20 years will take on the role of director for the Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services.