VA Shifts To Clinical Pharmacists To Help Ease Patients’ Long Waits
Some Veterans Affairs’ hospitals are cutting vets’ long waits for outpatient care appointments by authorizing specially-trained pharmacists to treat certain patients with chronic care needs.
Report: States Increase Cost Controls To Manage Medicaid Growth
Medicaid enrollment and total spending are projected to rise more slowly for 2017, but California and other states’ tabs will grow faster as the federal government begins to taper funding for Obamacare expansions, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports.
FAQ: How The FDA’s New Tobacco Rule Affects Consumers
The FDA expands its purview over all tobacco products — including e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco — but the new regulatory process could permit many products sold in the U.S. to remain so for up to three years.
Smokers’ Ranks Look Conspicuously Sparse In Obamacare
Federal data suggest that many smokers aren’t confessing to their tobacco habit to avoid paying higher health care premiums, thwarting insurers.
UnitedHealthcare To Exit All But ‘Handful’ Of Obamacare Markets In 2017
UnitedHealthcare said Tuesday it will leave most of the 34 states in which it offers health insurance under Obamacare, but Nevada and Virginia are two markets it will retain a presence. Company officials would not say if the changes would affect customers in California, but United had a small portion of the Covered California market.
Competition Suffers Most If UnitedHealth Exits Obamacare In 2017: Analysis
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released Monday, a day ahead of UnitedHealth’s expected announcement, finds 1.1 million consumers would have no choice in health insurance plans if the giant insurer drops out of Obamacare marketplaces as threatened.
2016 Obamacare Enrollment Tops Expectations At 12.7 Million
About 4 million people signed up for health coverage for the first time, reports the Health and Human Services Department.