Changing the Affordable Care Act benchmark plan — which is used to calculate premium subsidies — from silver to gold could lower the national median deductible and annual median out-of-pocket maximum for individual coverage, according to a recent analysis by The Commonwealth Fund.

The bill S.499, introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D–N.H.), would set the second-lowest-cost gold plan as the benchmark plan going forward. That would have the biggest impact on people who receive minimal or no cost-sharing reductions. Based on 2022 marketplace data, the median deductible in gold plans was $1,450 — three times less than traditional silver plans with no cost-sharing reductions. Moving the benchmark to gold could also lower the median out-of-pocket maximum to $7,500.

Billing for remote patient monitoring (RPM) jumped by more than four times during the first year of the pandemic, according to a recent Health Affairs study. The increase was mostly driven by a handful of primary care providers. Using medical claims data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse collected between Jan. 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021, the researchers found that there were 19,762 general RPM claims in March 2021, compared with 4,355 claims in February 2020. Continuous glucose monitoring, however, only saw a slight increase over the same period of time.

In addition, RPM claims were highly concentrated. The top 0.1% of primary care providers — identified by the researchers as “high-volume provider group” — accounted for 69% of all general RPM claims.

More than 50,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries experienced an opioid overdose in 2021, while almost a quarter of Part D enrollees (12.1 million) received at least one prescription opioid through Medicare, according to a recent report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.

The proportion of beneficiaries receiving opioids has been declining, from 33% in 2016 to 23% in 2021. Alabama saw the highest proportion of opioid recipients (36%), while New York and Hawaii ranked the lowest (15%).

Here’s how major U.S. health insurers performed financially in the second quarter of 2022. Health Plan Weekly subscribers can access more health plan financial data — including year-over-year comparisons of leading health plans’ net income, premium revenue, medical loss ratios and net margins. Just email support@aishealth.com to request spreadsheets for current and past quarters.

A new study published in Health Affairs urged government leaders to limit market consolidation among the largest dialysis providers as more and more seniors choose Medicare Advantage over fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. Analyzing 2016 and 2017 outpatient Medicare claims data, the study authors found that MA organizations paid inflated costs for dialysis services compared to what FFS Medicare would have paid, especially to large national dialysis organizations — where the majority of patients receive treatment. Notably, MA plans’ median cost for in-network hemodialysis (the most common form of the therapy) was $301, which was markedly higher than the $232 median cost for out-of-network treatments. Findings were similar for peritoneal dialysis, the less common form of dialysis.

Overall, MA plans paid 131% of the FFS price for in-network hemodialysis at large chains, compared to 120% of the FFS price at regional chains, and they paid 112% of the price at independently owned facilities. These markups were also found for in-network peritoneal dialysis but were not observed for out-of-network services.

A new study published in JAMA Network Open raises questions about whether health systems can actually achieve significant savings through the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), or if Medicare Advantage could be a better bet. To identify spending patterns in MA and MSSP’s Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), researchers studied the characteristics and claims data of about 16,000 Medicare patients at Ochsner Health System (OHS), a large, academic system in Louisiana, from 2014 to 2018. Ochsner joined MSSP in 2013, and its ACO hosts more than 2,200 providers. It also offers MA plans via a partnership with Humana Inc.

Here’s how major health insurers’ stock performed in August 2022. UnitedHealth Group had the highest closing stock price among major commercial insurers as of August 31, 2022, at $519.33. Humana Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major Medicare insurers at $481.78.

Cigna Corp. will expand its Affordable Care Act exchange offerings in 2023 by 50 new counties in Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina and add three new states — Texas, Indiana and South Carolina — the insurer said in August. If approved by the state regulators, Cigna’s market expansion has the potential to reach roughly 730,000 additional enrollees. The carrier has been expanding its footprint over the past few years, currently ranking 11th in national ACA enrollment with 340,000 members. Its major state markets are Tennessee (85,000 members), Virginia (62,000) and Missouri (49,000).

About 3.7 million people could gain access to health care if the current 12 nonexpansion states were to fully implement a Medicaid expansion in 2023, according to a recent Urban Institute analysis.

In the upcoming gubernatorial elections in November, Medicaid expansion could be a key issue in several nonexpansion states, including Wisconsin, Kansas and Georgia. All three states had several failed attempts to fully expand Medicaid eligibility.

The monthly Medicare Part D base beneficiary premium for 2023 will be $32.74, a slight decrease from $33.37 in 2022, according to CMS. The Part D national average monthly bid amount continues to drop, from $38.18 in 2022 to $34.71 in 2023. Regional low-income premium subsidy amounts have increased over the past few years in most states, yet five states — New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Indiana and Kentucky — are projected to see a decline larger than 5% in 2023. South Carolina is projected to see the biggest jump, with its average subsidy amount going up from $31.12 in 2022 to $37.84.