Different Data Source, But Same Results: Most Adults Subject to Medicaid Work Requirements Are Working or Face Barriers to Work

To understand the impact of Medicaid work requirements included in the budget reconciliation bill being debated in Congress, KFF has undertaken two difference analyses using different data sources. Using 2023 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this analysis looks at the share of adults who work at least 80 hours per month,…

Read More

California’s Much-Touted IVF Law May Be Delayed Until 2026, Leaving Many in the Lurch

California lawmakers are poised to delay the state’s much-ballyhooed new law mandating in vitro fertilization insurance coverage for millions, set to take effect July 1. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to push the implementation date to January 2026, leaving patients, insurers, and employers in limbo. The law, SB 729, requires state-regulated health plans offered…

Read More

Microplastics Are Here, There, Everywhere

By KIM BELLARD Vaccine experts are going rogue in response to RFK Jr’s attacks on vaccine safety. Health insurers promise – honest…this time – to make prior authorizations less burdensome (although not, of course, to eliminate them). ChatGPT and other LLMs may be making us worse at learning. So many things to write about, but…

Read More

AHIP to simplify prior authorization process

AHIP (formerly America’s Health Insurance Plans) released a statement yesterday saying that their health plan members “announced a series of commitments to streamline, simplify and reduce prior authorization.” 48 US health plans signed off on the statement. What were AHIP’s 6 commitments? Standardizing Electronic Prior Authorization. Participating health plans will work toward implementing common, transparent submissions…

Read More

Nektar’s Novel Eczema Drug Meets Trial Goals, But Differentiation From Dupixent Remains Unclear

Nektar Therapeutics’ biologic drug rezpegaldesleukin take a new approach to atopic dermatitis, or eczema, stimulating proliferation of immune cells that tamp down excessive immune responses. The drug met the goals of a Phase 2b study, but analysts note that cross-trial measures show those results are short of the marks achieved by Dupixent, the top biologic…

Read More