The Senate this week is taking up the massive budget package containing President Trump's second-term agenda, a measure that squeaked through the House with a one-vote margin, solely with Republican votes. Its path through the Senate seems destined to be similarly narrow, with the package almost certain to be revised, since parts of it are opposed by a handful of GOP senators critical to its passage.
The North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives each passed separate legislation to regulate the companies in late April and early May. But the two chambers differ in how to go about reforming PBMs' practices in North Carolina. The House version would go further to outlaw certain business practices, while the Senate bill would also regulate other actors in the supply chain. Both would increase reporting requirements with the goal of making the industry more transparent.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) doubled down on his claim that there won't be Medicaid cuts in President Trump's "big, beautiful bill," despite projections that millions of low-income individuals would lose health insurance as a result of the bill. Johnson, during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," pushed back on independent projections that the bill would lead to 4.8 million people who would lose coverage because of work requirements, saying they won't lose it "unless they choose to do so." ... He added that the people who are complaining about losing their coverage are doing so "because they can't fulfill the paperwork," noting that the policy follows "common sense."
Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy. State and local health departments responsible for invisible but critical work such as inspecting restaurants, monitoring wastewater for new and harmful germs, responding to outbreaks before they get too big — and a host of other tasks to protect both individuals and communities — are being hollowed out.
CVS and Express Scripts have asked a federal judge to block a law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from owning or operating pharmacies in Arkansas, challenging the first such restriction enacted by a state. The lawsuits come a little over a month after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the legislation restricting pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs, which run prescription drug coverage for big clients that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage.
As some health insurance companies have come under fire for allegedly using computer systems to shoot down claims, an Arizona law will soon make the practice illegal in the Grand Canyon State.