Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawsuit Challenges Washington State's Medicaid Policy Limiting Access To Costly Hepatitis C Drugs
The Seattle Times: Lawsuit Targets Medicaid Policy That Limits Spendy Hepatitis C Drugs
Two weeks after suing private insurers for improperly denying costly drugs to patients with hepatitis C infections, Seattle lawyers have expanded the fight to Washington state’s Medicaid provider. A class-action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of two Apple Health clients — and nearly 28,000 others with the liver-damaging disease — seeks to force the Health Care Authority (HCA) to change a policy that limits the spendy drugs to only the sickest patients. (Aleccia, 2/17)
The Connecticut Mirror: Malloy Seeks To Cut Legislative Authority Over Medicaid Changes
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration is seeking to eliminate legislators’ authority over certain attempts to make changes to Medicaid and other federally funded assistance programs – an authority legislators recently used to block a controversial administration proposal. (Levin Becker, 2/18)
