About health insurance/insurers
11 states will offer health insurance for children without permanent legal status in 2023 “Eleven states will provide government health benefits to children without permanent legal status in 2023, Stateline reported Dec. 6.
Connecticut and New Jersey will allow children without permanent legal status to enroll in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program in January, joining Maine, Rhode Island Vermont, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia in extending these benefits.”
Oscar Health to stop accepting new members in Florida “Oscar Health will stop accepting new members through open enrollment on Dec. 13, the company said Dec. 12…
In third-quarter regulatory filings, published Nov. 9, Oscar Health said it had "proactively engaged" CMS to help the company keep its membership levels manageable following the exit of other carriers from certain markets.”
Unions suing Elevance Health for allegedly restricting access to claims data Labor unions contracted with Elevance Health for self-funded plans are suing the payer, alleging Elevance Health does not allow self-paid plans to access their own claims data and charged the self-pay plans higher rates than it had negotiated with hospitals.
Law firm Berger Montague represents Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 Fund and Sheet Metal Workers Local 40 Fund, two unions who contracted with Elevance Health for access to the payer's network and negotiated rates.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
'We are in a crisis': Main Line anticipates 2nd straight $100M annual loss “Radnor Township, Pa.-based Main Line Health is anticipating its second consecutive $100 million annual loss as Philadelphia-area hospitals and health systems continue to face economic struggles, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Dec. 12.
Through October, Main Line had already lost $62 million.”
About pharma
Amoxicillin shortage worsens to 44 products, resupply dates pushed to 2023 “The number of amoxicillin products on back order has increased to 44 after months of the antibiotic being out of stock, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Depending on the ASHP's website or the FDA's drug shortage database, between two dozen and three dozen oral presentations of amoxicillin have been in shortage because of high demand since late October. At the time, the shortage was expected to resolve by the end of 2022.”
Mark Cuban's drug company targets self-insured employer market “Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company will offer prescription drug discounts to a coalition of 40 large private and public employers via a new platform called EmsanaRx Plus.
Cuban's drug company is partnering with pharmacy benefits manager EmsanaRx to expand access to lower-cost medicines to employers and employees. For Cost Plus Drugs, the partnership marks a strategic shift from operating exclusively in the direct-to-consumer market into the employer market.
EmsanaRx Plus is a supplemental drug discount product designed specifically for employers as a standalone pipeline for lower-cost medicines that have been contracted directly with drug manufacturers by Cost Plus Drugs, according to the company.”
About the public’s health
Combo Vaccine Candidate for Influenza and COVID-19 Gets Fast Track Status “A phase 1 trial to investigate the immunogenicity and safety of the vaccine candidate has been initiated.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based combination vaccine candidate for the prevention of influenza and COVID-19 with a single injection.
The vaccine candidate utilizes BioNTech’s mRNA technology to combine Pfizer’s quadrivalent modRNA-based influenza vaccine candidate, qIRV (22/23), and Pfizer-BioNTech’s authorized Omicron-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.”
Catholic healthcare providers can't be forced to do gender surgeries: U.S. court “The Biden administration cannot force a group of Catholic healthcare providers and professionals to perform gender transition surgeries under an Obama-era regulation barring sex discrimination in healthcare, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a North Dakota federal judge who said the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) rule infringes on the religious freedoms of the plaintiffs, including a group of nuns who run health clinics for the poor and an association of Catholic healthcare professionals.”
Merck escapes nearly 1,200 Zostavax shingles vaccine lawsuits as plaintiffs' testimony falls short “Tuesday, a Pennsylvania federal judge threw out exactly 1,189 cases against Merck in the four-year-long group of cases.
The plaintiffs in the now-dismissed clutch of lawsuits argued Zostavax caused their shingles. But the medical expert attempting to back up that claim failed to consider whether the plaintiffs’ disease occurred naturally because they’d had chickenpox as kids, according to court filings published this week.”
Juul to Pay $1.7 Billion in Legal Settlement “Juul Labs Inc. has agreed to pay $1.7 billion in a broad legal settlement covering more than 5,000 lawsuits, according to people familiar with the matter.
Many of the lawsuits accused the e-cigarette maker of marketing its addictive products to children and teens. Juul has said it never targeted young people and that it has been working to regain the public’s trust.”
About health technology
Thermo Fisher Bacterial Test Recall Now Deemed Class I “The FDA issued an update on Remel’s Oct. 20 recall of Thermo Fisher Scientific Gram Negative IVD AST Sensititre Plates, deeming it a Class 1 recall because of the risk of serious injury or death from potential false results.
The in vitro diagnostic test assesses the susceptibility of Gram-negative organisms towards certain antibiotics, enabling physicians to select appropriate treatments for infected patients.”
About healthcare finance
Buyout on Horizon: Amgen floats $28B offer for rare disease drug maker as Sanofi exits bidding war “Amgen is offering around $28 billion in cash for its proposed takeover of Horizon, the company said Monday. The drugmaker is paying a premium of approximately $47.9% on the closing share price of $78.76 per Horizon share on Nov. 29, 2022, the company said in its release.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2023, Amgen executives said on a conference call Monday morning.”
Walgreens sells off more AmerisourceBergen stock “For the second time in as many months, Walgreens Boots Alliance has sold off shares in Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen, this time getting $1 billion that it says it will use, in part, to fund the VillageMD purchase of Summit Health-CityMD.
Deerfield-based Walgreens said in a statement Thursday night that it has sold common stock publicly for about $800 million and that AmerisourceBergen repurchased about $200 million of Walgreens' holdings in the company.”