Set to begin in 2025, the option to pay out-of-pocket costs for Part D drugs in monthly payments over a year was ratified in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
CMS is releasing the guidance in two parts, this week the focus across 56 pages is on helping Medicare Part D plan sponsors and pharmacies prepare for the new program and...
This week many are celebrating the first birthday of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which extends Marketplace affordability, caps the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries, and improves access to affordable prescription drugs for millions of Americans. In Arizona, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System...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...
The Biden administration released revised guidance for the Medicare drug price negotiation program late last week in response to the mounting lawsuits against the policy required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.
Drugmakers Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as industry representatives like the U.S. Chamber of...
On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary posted projections for national health expenditures (NHE) through 2031. The report projects health spending will represent 20% of the U.S. economy and spending will surpass $7 trillion annually by 2031.
The CMS release states that the NHE and health...
Pharmaceutical industry advocacy organizations including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and a third drug manufacturer have sued the federal government over the provision of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that allowed for Medicare drug price negotiation for select pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceutical...
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck has filed a lawsuit against the federal government in an effort to stop Medicare drug price negotiations before they even begin.
The company filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., and said that the drug price negotiation program would necessarily violate the company's...CMS Rules
The Biden administration issued a proposed rule through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that aims to increase transparency of prescription drug costs and managed care plan operations for Medicaid enrollees.
It would do this by implementing a new drug price verification survey tool and requiring the inclusion of drug...
This initial program guidance details the requirements and procedures for implementing the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program in 2026, the first year negotiated prices will apply.
The guidance is one of a number of steps CMS laid out in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program timeline for the first year of negotiation. The...National News
Last Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed guidance for carrying out drug price reforms included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency is requesting public input on the outline and timeframe for implementing the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program.
The program will...
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its timeline for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, a key point of legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
In a press call, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said that the department will...
Nearly 3.4 million Americans have enrolled in 2023 individual market health insurance coverage through state and federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces since the beginning of the enrollment period. This is a substantial increase that President Joe Biden attributes to the offering of low-cost plans through federal subsidies from...
The U.S. government has started holding talks with pharmaceutical manufacturers in compliance with the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that allows Medicare to negotiate prices for some drugs.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure announced at a health conference in...
The Commonwealth Fund, a private research foundation that promotes health care reform and overall health care system improvement, published a report Tuesday that targets key steps for policymakers in expanding health coverage and affordability.
The report, Next Steps in Expanding Health Coverage and Affordability, looks at the...
According to the Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will cap prescription drug costs for Medicare and also reduce health insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of Arizona ACA beneficiaries by about $830 per year. The legislation is also expected to expand coverage to about 41,000 Arizonans, and cap insulin...
President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Tuesday, a $430 billion bill that includes a number of health-related programs that the Biden administration has touted as high-priority since the 2020 presidential campaign.
The bill includes an extension for federal health insurance subsidies and allows the government...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...National News
Last Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced a reconciliation package that includes drug pricing reforms, a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits enacted under the American Rescue Plan (ARP), in addition to deficit reduction and investments in climate and energy security. Senator Joe...
