Medicare is requiring more pre-treatment approvals in its fee-for-service program in a bid to root out unnecessary care, federal regulators announced Friday.
The big picture: Traditional Medicare historically hasn't required prior authorizations to access most drugs or services, a major perk for enrollees.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to a section of the Affordable Care Act that designates a federal task force to recommend which preventive services insurers must cover at no cost to patients.
Why it matters: The 6-3 decision will ensure continued access to free cancer screenings, HIV drugs and counseling for the roughly 150 million Americans with private health insurance.
The court said that the Health and Human Services secretary can still remove members of the task force.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson concurring.
Apple Tree Partners has invested billions of dollars to launch and grow biotech companies, but now a legal dispute threatens to shut many of them down.
The big picture: Apple Tree has an unusual structure for a venture capital firm, according to court documents filed in Delaware and the Cayman Islands.
The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed low-income patients' rights to chose their health providers while giving conservative-led states a bigger opening to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates from their Medicaid programs.
The big picture: The 6-3 decision by the court's conservative majority potentially adds more obstacles to care, on top of financial barriers or poor health, and comes as Congress debates major changes to Medicaid that could cause millions of people to lose health coverage.
While the arguments before justices were narrow in scope, the ruling has huge ramifications for women trying to access reproductive care. Medicaid covers 1 in 5 women of child-bearing age and is the biggest source of coverage for women with low incomes, covering more than 4 in 10, per KFF.
The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed low-income patients' rights to chose their health providers while giving conservative-led states a bigger opening to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates from their Medicaid programs.
The big picture: The 6-3 decision by the court's conservative majority potentially adds more obstacles to care, on top of financial barriers or poor health, and comes as Congress debates major changes to Medicaid that could cause millions of people to lose health coverage.
