Braun signs executive orders on abortion records, health care costs
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Wednesday waded into a legal fight over the release of abortion records while signing a health-focused tranche of executive orders.
Health Care Costs
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Cost transparency efforts advance in medicine
The Trump administration won a court ruling last month upholding its plan to require insurers and hospitals to disclose prices for common tests and procedures in a bid to promote competition and push down costs. The federal court decision comes as Indiana prepares to enact its own health care price transparency legislation next year.
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Lawmakers scrutinize “black box of state PBM spending”
A review of five years of data from the state’s major pharmacy benefit managers cataloged more than 63 million claims and nearly $6.7 billion paid to the entities across state-sponsored plans — including Medicaid and the health plan for state employees, according to an analysis presented before lawmakers on Tuesday.
FSSA halts POWER Account contributions after federal ruling
The Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) will stop enforcing collections of premium-like payments — the agency announced Monday, the same day it was set to restart the program. The action comes after a Thursday ruling from a federal judge striking contributions to POWER Accounts for Indiana’s Medicaid expansion enrollees.
Families encouraged by recent FSSA changes on attendant care transition
Families of medically complex children cheered a move last week from the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to address two concerns about the transition from attendant care services to Structured Family Caregiving.
Families call on Holcomb administration to pivot on attendant care transition
Six moms of medically complex children pressured Gov. Eric Holcomb to reform his administration’s approach to transitioning families from attendant care to another caregiving program in a private Monday meeting at the Statehouse
Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback
President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely delaying a long-awaited menthol cigarette ban, a decision that infuriated anti-smoking advocates but could avoid a political backlash from Black voters in November.
Biden sees $35 price cap for insulin as pivotal campaign issue
Rarely a day goes without President Joe Biden mentioning insulin prices. He promotes a $35 price cap for the medication for Americans on Medicare — in White House speeches, campaign stops and even at non-health care events around the country.
Quieter year expected for Indiana health care bills
The Chair of the Indiana Senate Health and Provider Services Committee doesn’t expect the same big health care legislation that was produced in 2023 in the upcoming legislative session.
Medicine without doctors? State laws are changing who treats patients
Florida and Georgia are two of many states contending with how much independence to give nurse practitioners and other medical professionals. It’s a question that has become emotional for medical providers and time-consuming for many state and federal groups.
3 bills in Indiana Senate take aim at health care costs, practices
Indiana Senate Republicans have introduced a trio of health care-related bills that aim to lower prescription drug costs, promote competition among physicians and end the practice that allows for inaccurate medical billing in certain circumstances.
Elevance Health must face federal suit alleging Medicare Advantage fraud
Indianapolis-based Elevance Health Inc. must face a federal lawsuit alleging that the company defrauded the U.S. government of millions of dollars by falsely certifying incorrect diagnosis data from doctors and other health providers.
Anthem pays $4.5M to Indiana hospitals in ER billing dispute
For five years, health insurer Anthem Inc. has tried to clamp down on what it considered unnecessary, expensive visits to emergency rooms by denying claims or downgrading reimbursements for ER visits that turned out not to be life-threatening. But now, that policy has come back to bite the Indianapolis-based company.
Separate pleading not needed in Medicaid reimbursement dispute, Indiana Supreme Court rules
In a lesson to the lower courts about judicial economy, the Indiana Supreme Court has overturned a ruling that had prevented a health care provider from obtaining a declaratory judgment as to whether it could charge patients for the cost of nonformulary over-the-counter medications.
AP-NORC poll: Government should help Americans age at home
Most Americans agree that government should help people fulfill a widely held aspiration to age in their own homes, not institutional settings, a new poll finds.
Attorney: Order that police pay for OWI blood draws may end ‘unfair’ practice
A Washington County trial judge has issued an order that a southern Indiana attorney said may uproot a long-standing practice requiring people suspected of drunk driving to pay for hospital blood-alcohol tests ordered by law enforcement, calling the practice “blatantly unfair.”
ISBA giving attorneys new option for health insurance
The Indiana State Bar Association rolled out a long-awaited health plan that bar association leaders believe will provide an affordable alternative, especially to small- and medium-size firms across the state.
COA upholds admission of medical bills in $0 pain-and-suffering verdict
Evidentiary rulings that led to a $0 jury verdict for a man who was injured in a car crash were upheld Wednesday by the Indiana Court of Appeals. The case drew participation from the Indiana plaintiff and defense bars.
Biden discussing COVID-19 aid with Dems, wants fast action
President Joe Biden panned a Republican alternative to his $1.9 trillion COVID rescue plan as insufficient as Senate Democrats pushed ahead, voting to launch a process that could approve his sweeping rescue package on their own, if Republicans refuse to support it.
Indiana lawmakers discuss doubling cigarette tax rate
Indiana lawmakers are considering doubling the state’s cigarette tax and imposing a tax on e-cigarettes. If passed, the new $1 per pack tax would be the first increase since 2007 and the measure would also raise taxes on vaping products.
Anthem paying $594M to settle antitrust litigation, but deal terms might fuel growth
Some investment analysts and health care observers say changes to Blue Cross Blue Shield rules that are stipulated in a half-billion-dollar settlement are so favorable to Indianapolis-based Anthem’s growth prospects that they view the deal as a huge win for the company.