State Category Health Insurance Managed Care Insurance Market CompetitivenessIn the new report from the CBO, estimates show that if the AHCA is adopted, 14 million individuals would likely lose their health insurance coverage next year. By 2026, that number would rise to 26 million. For low-income seniors between the ages of 50 and 64, the uninsured rate would more than double under the AHCA, from 12 percent to 30 percent. That's because premiums would jump by so much for older Americans by over 700 percent in many cases they would likely be priced out of the individual health insurance market..It turned out that Flo was working for the deep pocketed pharmaceutical industry. They successfully used her ad to sink major legislation proposed by President Bill Clinton to add a voluntary drug benefit to Medicare. It wasn't until 2003 that the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act, which added the Part D drug benefit to Medicare, was finally signed into law by President George W. Bush. But, although the bill provided a drug benefit, it specifically prohibited Medicare from negotiating prices with drug manufacturers, even though Medicare negotiates prices for almost every other service and for Part B drugs. High drug prices put patient's lives at risk every day when people can't afford to fill their prescriptions..I've been listening to news stories about the Supreme Court case over the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law. Was Medicare affected in any way? … Continued
State Legislatures Magazine First Branch News Ncsl S Weekly Roundup Of Legislative Headlines637493259 Magazine2021However, those projections were made prior to the severe economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Those funds will be affected both by the amount each program spends this year, and by the lower-than-projected revenue because of the depression-level unemployment. Those factors will not be determined until the end of this year. And until a vaccine or an effective treatment is found, the improvement in the economic outlook remains very uncertain..TSCL is especially concerned about how seniors and their families would be informed about the change of health plans. Dual eligible seniors are more likely to have cognitive challenges, and their family caregivers may not understand that a transition to a new health plan is taking place, or how to navigate the changes. TSCL is particularly concerned that seniors may not be able to keep their former doctors and other healthcare providers if those providers don't participate under the new plans. If so, this raises the potential for unintended and uncovered costs, if seniors unwittingly continue to see their former doctor or present the wrong health plan card when visiting providers..This week, lawmakers in the Senate voted on three health reform bills that would have repealed and replaced parts of the ACA if enacted. All three of the bills the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act, and the Health Care Freedom Act better known as the "skinny repeal" bill failed to win passage on the Senate floor. … Continued
