According to our recent payer coverage analysis for psoriasis (PsO) treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially harmful to people of color in the U.S., as they are more likely to suffer financial hardship, extreme cases of the disease or death than the white population. Experts say the devastation to communities of color is the product of systemic racism — particularly a lack of access to insurance coverage and quality care — and the pandemic's economic consequences will make all of those problems worse, AIS Health reported.

According to a Sept. 15 report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Epic Health Research Network, people of color were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and to require a higher level of care at the time of diagnosis compared to white patients, and they also were more likely to be hospitalized and die from the novel coronavirus than white patients were.

Although more than three-quarters of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries remain in highly rated plans, roughly 77% of MA Prescription Drug (MA-PD) members are currently in contracts that will have 4 or more stars in 2021, down from about 81% in 2020, estimated CMS.

Approximately 49% of MA-PD plans (194 contracts) that will be offered in 2021 earned overall star ratings of 4 or higher, compared with 52% of MA-PDs (210 contracts) offered in 2020, according to CMS.

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for hemophilia A (factor VIII) treatments, combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

Experts say a last-minute proposal by President Donald Trump to distribute $200 prescription drug credits to Medicare Part D enrollees on preloaded debit cards faces many unanswered questions and will be difficult to implement, especially in the short time before the Nov. 3 election, AIS Health reported.

Little is known about the drug credit plan other than what can be gleaned from public statements by the president and an unnamed HHS source cited by the Washington Post. The president announced the plan during a Sept. 24 campaign speech in North Carolina.

CVS Health Corp.'s Caremark will exclude 57 medications from its 2021 formulary and add six back. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx subsidiary will exclude 19 medications and products while adding back five and implementing restrictions on others, AIS Health reported.

Still, only a handful of products excluded by either PBM are likely to impact many members adversely, says Marc Guieb, a pharmacist and consultant with Milliman Inc. That also applies to the exclusions announced earlier by Cigna Corp.-owned PBM Express Scripts, he adds.

According to our recent payer coverage analysis for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C), combined with news from key healthcare influencers, market access is shifting in this drug landscape.

To help make sense of this new research, MMIT's team of experts analyzes the data and summarizes the key findings for you. The following are brief highlights. To read the full piece, including payer coverage, drug competition and prescriber trends, click here.

Health insurers will probably have lower health care expenditures in 2020 and 2021 than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis from Willis Towers Watson. However, the white paper emphasizes that substantial risk is still possible and says plan sponsors need to take proactive steps to blunt the future impact of deferred care, AIS Health reported.

The policy environment could change suddenly and dramatically depending on the outcome of California v. Texas, a suit that could lead the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and the presidential election.