Health-Exchange-Alert

Former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) went head-to-head again over their health care proposals during Wednesday night's second Democratic debate, with Biden accusing Harris of flip-flopping over the role of private insurance and designing an unworkable Medicare for All plan, and Harris saying Biden’s plan falls short of universal coverage.

A federal appeals court has scheduled an oral argument for Oct. 11 on the legality of Medicaid work requirements.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma warned a receptive audience at the Heritage Foundation about what she called the dangers of Medicare for All or a public health insurance option the morning after Democratic primary candidates touted these types of plans on the debate stage in Detroit.

Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor on Tuesday (July 30) rejected Nevada’s motion to intervene is a class action case over the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate and entered a final judgment blocking enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that plans cover all FDA-approved birth control methods without cost-sharing for any individual or employer that objects to the mandate due to religious reasons.

A coalition of seven stakeholders appealed a federal district court’s decision to uphold the Trump administration’s rule expanding the scope of short-term health plans, arguing that the plans undermine consumer protections for people with preexisting conditions and can discriminate based on age, gender or health status.

The American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans are sparring over the arbitration policy in the House’s surprise billing fix as Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) weighs adding a similar policy to his bill.

Air ambulance providers are pressing Senate health committee leaders to change the surprise billing policy in their cost-cutting legislation to better address out-of-network air ambulance bills by updating the Medicare reimbursement rate, requiring all insurers cover air ambulances and increasing the reimbursement rate above the median in-network rate for a geographic area.

The Trump administration on Tuesday (July 23) asked a federal judge to delay ruling on the legality of CMS’ approval of Medicaid work requirements in New Hampshire, but advocates for beneficiaries and a lawyer for New Hampshire urged the judge to rule quickly.

Some residents in Colorado could see premiums drop by 33.5% in 2020 and Californians may see decreases of up to 10 % compared to 2019 prices based on preliminary rates, and both states attributed the cost reduction to state-level actions to shore up the marketplace.