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Children’s advocate Bruce Lesley said Friday (Jan. 23) that he and his colleagues will be pushing Congress to pass by March legislation that would extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for four years, or through 2019.

CMS paid $20 per beneficiary to save $14 per beneficiary in the first year of the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative, according to agency reports released Friday (Jan. 23), and the Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration reduced Medicare expenditures by $4.2 million in the first year but only reduced expenditures in two states out of seven states in which it is running.

Seniors advocates and labor unions are urging House lawmakers to include in their upcoming 21st Century Cures bill provisions that would control the cost of innovative drugs in order to protect both seniors and taxpayers from skyrocketing prices for treatments.

The National Community Pharmacists Association is calling for the House Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees to hold a hearing to investigate how incorrect information about pharmacies participating in Aetna's 2015 Medicare Part D plans was posted on Medicare Plan Finder.

Non-Hispanic whites that live in the Southern states would be most impacted should the Supreme Court rule that the ACA's subsidies are not available to those enrolled in plans purchased through the federal exchange, according to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.

The Supreme Court handed Teva Pharmaceuticals a major win this week by ordering a federal appeals court to revisit its decision to shoot down a subset of Teva's patents for a complex multiple sclerosis drug, demanding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit consider information generated by the district court unless it is found to be in "clear error."

House Ways & Means Committee members plan to discuss Medicare reforms that many believe Congress could use to pay for replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate formula during their upcoming retreat, Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) said Thursday (Jan. 22).

CMS is trying to find ways to promote choice in the exchanges while also limiting it enough to avoid overwhelming consumers, Kevin Counihan,the CEO of the federal health insurance marketplace said on Thursday (Jan. 22) in an indication that the agency may be considering standardizing plan benefits.

House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee members on Thursday (Jan. 22) heard advice from providers and AARP on ways to pay for replacing Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula: the American Hospital Association suggested beneficiaries pay, AARP suggested drug makers pay and the American Medical Association said it needed to see parameters before recommending offsets.