Tag: health care

When the end of the COVID-19 pandemic comes, it could create major disruptions for a cumbersome U.S. health care system made more generous, flexible and up-to-date technologically through a raft of temporary emergency measures.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to close health equity gaps by providing Medicare patients living with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) with greater access to care. Through the ESRD Prospective Payment System (PPS) annual rulemaking, CMS is making changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) and the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model, and updating ESRD PPS payment rates.

When a heart attack patient is rushed to the hospital, they rarely have trouble securing a cardiologist, operating table and hospital bed. But patients experiencing mental crises have no such assurances. When they are rushed to the hospital, they sometimes wait for days for a psychiatric bed to open up.

The Biden-Harris Administration is expanding the number of Navigator organizations to help people enroll in coverage through the Marketplace, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 30 states with a Federally-Facilitated Marketplace. Through $80 million in grant awards for the 2022 plan year, 60 Navigator awardee organizations will be able to train and certify more than 1,500 Navigators to help uninsured consumers find affordable and comprehensive health coverage.

The fight in the holdout states to thwart Medicaid expansion — or the mere threat of it — has reached a new low. Forget the “no” votes in state legislatures year after year that keep poor Americans from getting health care.