patient voices
A Medicaid tragedy in the making
An Afghan couple that fled during the Taliban's takeover of the country is struggling to get Medicaid to pay for a potentially curative gene therapy treatment that could save their son's life, my colleague Megan Molteni writes.
There's a potential cure, a company offering it free of charge, and a team of doctors in Minnesota ready to administer it. But the Medicaid program in Texas has said it won't cover the hospital stay and other associated costs because the therapy isn't yet approved in the United States.
The child's life likely hangs in the balance of a coverage appeal, as the genetic disorder is a terminal illness. Read more about the real-world consequences of payment policy for cutting-edge treatment.
INFLUENCE
AHA weighs in on heated lawsuit
The nation's largest hospital lobby waded into a legal fight between not-for-profit AdventHealth and MultiPlan over out-of-network payments to hospitals, my colleague Bob Herman writes.
AHA came in as backup for its member, AdventHealth, arguing that the hospital industry is in a bleak financial position.
It's a clash of health care giants, given Multiplan's clients include major insurance companies, too. Bob has the full update — and a newsletter every Monday that's worth signing up for!
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