Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
PacificSource Health Plans Will Exit Some ACA, Medicare Exchanges For 2027
Modern Healthcare: PacificSource To Quit ACA Exchanges, Exit Montana Market
PacificSource Health Plans is the latest health insurance company to pull out of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 marketplaces. The nonprofit insurer will not offer exchange plans in Idaho, Montana, Oregon or Washington next year. PacificSource Health Plans will entirely leave Montana, where it currently covers 42,000 members in Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored and marketplace plans. The insurer has more than 500,000 members in those four states. About 30,000 are exchange enrollees, according to the consulting firm Evensun Health. (Tepper, 5/22)
Politico: RFK Jr., States At Odds Over Cause Of Obamacare’s Enrollment Declines
Both the Trump administration and state officials agree on the numerical fact: People this year are dropping their Obamacare coverage — to the tune of 1.2 million people out of a total enrollment of 24.3 million as of March, according to the latest federal data. But they are at odds over why. (King and Hooper, 5/25)
KFF Health News: Cheaper, Alternative Health Plans Are Having A Moment, But Critics Urge Caution
When Melanie Miller saw that her health insurance premium payment was set to nearly triple to $914 a month this year, she stopped shopping on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.This story also ran on CBS News. It can be republished for free. The 59-year-old retired teacher, who recently moved from Ohio to Michigan, now pays $341 a month for a pair of plans, one that covers routine and urgent care and another that pays fixed amounts for hospital stays. Neither meets federal standards for comprehensive coverage. (Kwon, 5/26)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital Pricing Under Fire From GOP, Insurers And Employers
Hospitals are under attack in Washington, and not just by their longtime foes in the insurance and drug industries. Those political powerhouses have indeed stepped up campaigns targeting hospitals, and all sides have ramped up spending on lobbyists. But increasingly others, including employers and conservative groups, have weighed in. Lawmakers in GOP-run Washington appear to be listening. (McAuliff, 5/22)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Travel Nursing Market Steadies As Profitability Issues Persist
The travel nurse market is normalizing and several key performance metrics appear to be stabilizing above pre-Covid pandemic levels, according to the annual SIA NATHO Travel Nurse Benchmarking Survey. At the same time, profitability remains under pressure even as bill rates hold relatively steady. Overall, the data suggests the market is no longer in sharp decline but is instead moving into a more stable and operationally disciplined environment. (Fullilove, 5/22)
The Baltimore Sun: Eastern Shore Receives $3.1 Million Federal Healthcare Funding
Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore have received more than $3 million in federal funding to assist with clinic staffing and other health care needs. The $3,139,017 in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced Sunday by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, will go to Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. (Hubbard, 5/24)
Carolina Public Press: UNCW Gets UNC System Blessing To Continue Medical School Planning
The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted Thursday to let UNC-Wilmington move forward with the planning process for its proposed medical school. It’s the next step — though an unusual one — in the university’s effort to mend healthcare inequity by increasing access in Southeastern North Carolina. (Denning, 5/24)
On mental healthcare —
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Therapists See Clawbacks Paused, Pay Reduced
The first thing Ohio therapists saw was the bill. It came from CareSource, Ohio’s largest Medicaid managed care plan, which covers more than 1.4 million members. In April, the Dayton-based organization told some behavioral health providers that it had been paying them too much for treating Medicaid patients — and that the therapists would have to pay the money back. (Washington, 5/25)
NPR: Mental Health Therapists Who Use AI To Take Notes Face Questions About Trust
For two years, Molly Quinn trusted her therapist with things she hadn't told anyone else. So when her therapist mentioned trying an artificial intelligence tool to take notes, Quinn didn't immediately refuse. The 31-year-old librarian from Fayetteville, Ark., asked to research it first. She wanted to understand where her words would go — whether they would stay local or be processed somewhere in the cloud. (Johnston, 5/26)
AP: State Asylums' Psychiatric Records Are Often Hard To Get
Breta Meria Conole was in a state psychiatric hospital for more than two decades. But the reason why is a family mystery. Debby Hannigan, her great grandniece, tried for years to access Conole’s medical records, because she thought they might hold clues to mental health issues in her family, including her oldest daughter’s depression. Hannigan twice wrote to the state of New York for the records. The second time she included a supporting note from her daughter’s therapist, who said the details would help “to know their family medical history better.” Both times she was turned away. (Stobbe, 5/24)
HealthDay: Study: Many College Students With Psychosis Aren’t Getting Medication
The college years are prime time for the emergence of mental illnesses involving psychosis, according to a new study. However, almost 60% of college students who seek mental health care after a psychotic episode do not get the recommended treatment, researchers recently reported in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. (Thompson, 5/26)
The Colorado Sun: How Can Colorado Help Kids Facing Mental Health Struggles? These Teens Have Ideas For The Next Governor.
The pressure to be perfect has stalked recent high school graduate Swarali Dhamal since she was in middle school, at once motivating and suffocating her while consuming more of her hours both in and outside of school. Recently, that nagging voice telling her to be flawless has grown louder because of carefully curated posts by friends and influencers flooding her social media feed. (Breunlin, 5/26)
