Week in Washington is brought to you by Michael Cohen, PhD. Tune in each week to read the latest on healthcare policy and get a glimpse of what’s on the horizon.
Week in Washington
01/19/2023
Medicare Advantage Enrollment
CMS released new data on Medicare Advantage Enrollment. As of January 1 payments, MA enrollment topped 30 million beneficiaries or about a 2 million increase from 2022. Enrollment in stand alone Part D plans were about 22.8 million.
Update on Leqembi
Politico reported that patient advocacy groups and certain Congressional figures were putting pressure on CMS to cover the newly approved Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi. Currently, Medicare only has limited coverage of Leqembi (only those in clinical trials). Since there are no planned future trials, that means on a practical level, there will be no coverage until/if the drug is fully approved.
ACA Open Enrollment
While Open Enrollment has closed for most states, a few state-based Marketplaces, notably California, New York, and New Jersey still have Open Enrollments. Additionally, most states have easy to obtain special enrollment periods for lower income individuals.
Research Of the Day
A thought provoking article on risk adjustment and health equity by McWilliams et al in this month’s Health Affairs. The research examines how risk adjustment interacts with social equity goals and potential solutions.
Previous editions:
01/12/2023: Week in Washington
01/05/2023: Week in Washington
12/15/2022: Week in Washington
12/08/2022: Week in Washington
12/01/2022: Week in Washington
11/17/2022: Week in Washington
11/10/2022: Week in Washington
11/03/2022: Week in Washington