On Monday, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a new program to cancel $2 billion in medical debt for Arizonans.
The governor announced the program upon signing a contract with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which buys debt held by collection agencies, medical providers and hospitals using grant funding. The agreement signs over $30 million...National News
Fewer Americans are uninsured than ever before according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These numbers are anticipated to rise as Medicaid redeterminations continue.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human services (HHS) announced the milestone on August 3, boasting a 7.7% uninsured rate for the...White Papers, E books, Reports and more
In honor of the tenth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance insurance exchange, consultancy McKinsey and Co. released a report evaluating the performance of the health insurance market in 2023.
The report relies on information collected from every health insurance exchange in the country and the 33...National News
Over the weekend, Senate Democrats came together to pass the massive Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a proposal to give Medicare the power to negotiate certain drug prices, as well as a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to insurers in the form of tax credits that were initially passed as part of the...White Papers, E books, Reports and more
A new report from Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) that used claims data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on appeals and denials for non-group qualified health plans offered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) federal marketplace found that nearly one-fifth of in-network claims were denied and 72% of reported...Top of The Day
The expiration of premium tax credits created by the American Rescue Plan Act could cause a $11.4 billion drop in national healthcare spending, including a sharp decline in spending in American hospitals and physicians' practices, according to a new report.
The report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the nation's...National News
On February 24, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it would release an additional $560 million in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments for healthcare providers who have reported losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and...
Arizona officially has the distinction of ranking second nationally for COVID deaths per capita, currently trailing Mississippi. The state has now surpassed 26,000 COVID-19 deaths and is averaging nearly 14,000 new cases per day. On Wednesday, there were 24 new COVID-19 related deaths and 8,329 new cases reported.
This information...
Cases are on a slow uptick nationwide with new cases on Tuesday, November 23 totaling 92,785. The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 95,481. There were 1,474 new deaths nationally and the total number of deaths nationally is now over 775,000. About 70% of the country has received at least one dose of the vaccine and just under...National Reports & Surveys
The RAND Corporation, a nonprofit policy think tank, published a report on Monday demonstrating that without enhanced subsidies the Affordable Care Act (ACA) couldn't protect many in New York from health coverage loss during the recession and pandemic.
According to researcher Christine Eibner, the Paul O'Neill Chair in Policy...Arizona News
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an award of nearly $1 billion in funding for 1,300 health centers funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program.
The purpose of the funding is to supplement COVID-19-related capital needs, construction or renovation...National News
The Biden administration announced last Friday that it would make available $25.5 billion in provider relief funding to offset revenue loss and higher expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Fierce Healthcare, funding will be used for reimbursing smaller providers that generally operate on thin margins and to boost...News
This week a large amount of analysis on how the Affordable Care Act, insurance rates and private insurance faired during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Also, due to increased enrollment during the special enrollment period and the need for health insurance spurred by pandemic-related job loss has encouraged insurance giant...
Despite a decline in overburdened intensive care units and COVID-19 cases overall since January, there's still a dire shortage of nurses affecting many care providers in Arizona and across the country.
The Hertel Report's Publisher Jim Hammond spoke to the motivating reasons for the shortage on Arizona360 last Friday:
There's a lot...
On July 12, AHCCCS submitted a proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) detailing its plan for reinvesting federal funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The spending plan includes strategies that aim to strengthen AHCCCS’ existing home and community based services (HCBS) program...Arizona News
To date, 6,220,506 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the state of Arizona and 3,468,999 Arizonans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the state vaccination rate to 47.6%. Nationwide 312 million doses have been provided and 146 million Americans have been fully vaccinated.
This...Arizona News
On June 7 at 5 p.m., AHCCCS is hosting an online community forum to solicit feedback from stakeholders about the American Rescue Plan Act home and community based services expenditure enhancement.
AHCCCS will use the feedback to submit a spending plan to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by June 12 this year.
Section...National News
President Joe Biden gave a public address to Congress last Wednesday and highlighted a number of items in his healthcare agenda, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and drug prices. The Biden administration has also signaled that it intends to begin work on banning menthol cigarettes.
One major highlight of the president's speech...National News
President Biden’s first COVID-19 relief bill, also known as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), significantly expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies, making more Americans eligible for free or low cost health insurance.
According to Vox, nearly 7 million Americans can now get ACA plan coverage for no cost, while an additional...National News
Unsurprisingly, the Affordable Care Act has received a lot of attention and support since President Joe Biden took office. The Act got a boost for its special enrollment period from the American Rescue Plan, despite a hefty price tag. And the Biden administration appointed a friend to the ACA in Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier...
