Your Weekly Dose of Health September 9, 2016

** As you may be aware, step therapy, or “fail first” legislation, A.2834D (Titone) / S.3419C (Young), passed the NYS Senate and Assembly in the final week of the Legislative Session. Please take the time to call Governor Cuomo at 518-474-8390 and urge him to sign this legislation into law, as it’s in the best interest of New York patients and providers! Click here for more information on step therapy.

 

National News:

  • The Senate is preparing to vote on a $9 billion bipartisan spending bill aimed at protecting the nation’s water infrastructure. It includes $280 million to address the water contamination problems in Flint Michigan and funding to fight pollution run off.
  • Politico offers an analysis of a provision of the Affordable Care Act called the Multi-State Plan Program. The plan was designed to increase competition in the healthcare market by contracting with two private health plans and mandating that each offer coverage in all 50 states by 2017. So far, however, the program has fallen short.

State News:

  • Governor Cuomo this week signed a bill to mandate that schools statewide test their water for lead contamination and implement a remediation plan when necessary.
  • The American Medical Association and the Medical Society of the State of New York recommended at a hearing this week that state insurance regulators should reject Anthem’s proposed acquisition of Cigna.
  • New York State’s Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson wrote a piece this week calling on people in the healthcare sector to be “agents of social justice.”

City News:

  • A bill before the city council would give all taxi drivers and car-share drivers access to health coverage, disability benefits and life insurance.

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