Zing Health Aims to Put ‘Feet on the Street’ for the Underserved
As other technology-enabled, start-up insurers eye service area expansions to aid in membership growth next year, Zing Health is planning to acquire Lasso Healthcare Insurance Co., a Harrisburg, Pa.-based provider o...
News Briefs
✦ Sens. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on July 14 introduced legislation seeking to redesign the Medicare Part D benefit structure and limit seniors’ out-of-pocket (OOP) drug costs. The bip...
Data Collection, Local Pacts Help MCOs Address Disparities
This time last year, protests were erupting across the U.S. calling for racial justice and the COVID-19 pandemic was disproportionately impacting communities of color — events that prompted many health insurance p...
Pandemic Fuels Staggering 14% National Medicaid Enrollment Growth
National Medicaid enrollment topped 84 million lives in June 2021, according to the latest update to AIS’s Directory of Health Plans. That’s an overall increase of 14.0% from the first quarter of 2020, a highly ...
Insurers Assess Impact of COVID On Seniors’ Mental Health
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced more seniors to stay at home and maintain a physical distance from loved ones, the impact to their mental health has been a key concern of Medicare Advantage organizations over the...
MedPAC’s ‘Rebalancing’ Policy Would Mean Lower MA Pay
Aiming to ensure that Medicare Advantage payments are more equally distributed across geographies and that the federal government can share in the “efficiency” of MA plans, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commissi...
News Briefs
✦ Anthem, Inc. completed its previously announced acquisition of Puerto Rico-Based MMM Holdings from InnovaCare Health. The deal adds more than 275,000 Medicare Advantage members and more than 314,000 Medicaid mem...
N.C. Blues Plan Strives for Positive Pharmacy Experience
As Medicare Advantage organizations prepare for patient experience and access measures to take on a larger weight starting with the 2023 Medicare Parts C and D star ratings, MA Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plan sponsor...
MA Organizations Prepared for Return to Normal in 2022 Bids
While the COVID-19 pandemic created a particularly unusual set of factors in Medicare Advantage organizations’ annual bid planning for 2021, actuaries who recently helped sponsors submit their 2022 bids suggest th...
Aduhelm’s Approval May Come at Major Cost to Medicare
Marking the first FDA approval of an Alzheimer’s disease treatment in nearly 20 years, the federal agency on June 7 gave accelerated approval to Biogen Inc. and Eisai Co., Ltd.’s Aduhelm (aducanumab-avwa). While...