Medicare is considering paying for acupuncture, which would be a controversial move, the Washington Post reports.
What's happening: The change would be part of a push to provide alternative, non-pharmacologic ways to address chronic pain amid the opioid crisis. Coverage would be only for chronic low-back pain.
It's too soon to throw in the towel on biosimilars, especially because there's evidence that they're lowering the net costs of biologics, Alex Brill and Benedic Ippolito of the American Enterprise Institute argue in a Health Affairs blog.
Many specialties would still take a pay cut even under versions of "Medicare for All" that aren't as full-throated as what Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed, according to recent analysis in JAMA by Harvard's Zirui Song.
The big picture: This is a feature, not a bug, of Medicare for All. Part of the point is to spend less on health care — through steep cuts in how much many doctors and hospitals get paid.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that his state will continue expanding government health benefits to adults who are living in the U.S. illegally, AP reports.
Why it matters: Immigrant health care is likely to become a huge topic on the campaign trail, especially since President Trump has already begun to weigh in against the proposals. The announcement follows all 10 Democratic candidates in last week's second debate saying that they support providing health care to undocumented immigrants.
Air ambulances charge higher rates relative to Medicare than most other services, and these rates have increased over time, according to another new study in Health Affairs.
Why it matters: Insurers often don't contract with air ambulances, meaning patients may be charged exorbitant sums for emergency transportation whether they're insured or not.
Seniors who use generic specialty drugs may end up spending more out-of-pocket than those who use the brand version because of how Medicare's prescription drug benefit is structured, according to a new study in Health Affairs.
The bottom line: "If you need a lot of drugs or some very expensive drugs you would save more money out-of-pocket by using brands instead of generics," tweeted one of the study's authors, Stacie Dusetzina.
