Public Health

Georgia's governor is eyeing a federal Medicaid waiver under a new proposal, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Thirty-seven states, including the District of Columbia, have expanded their Medicaid programs, with 14 states opting out of the expansion.

Restrictions insurers implement to help control costs — like prior authorization — may be limiting physicians' use of buprenorphine to treat patients with opioid use disorder, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Other states are watching how Medicaid expansion will play out in Utah after state lawmakers approved a Republican bill that would unwind parts of a voter-approved expansion, according to Health Affairs.

A voter-approved proposition to expand Medicaid in Utah may be scaled back after state lawmakers approved a Republican bill that would unwind parts of the expansion, according to The Hill.

Domenic Esposito, a Boston-based artist and activist who installed a massive spoon sculpture in June outside of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's headquarters, revived his artful protest Feb. 8 in Rhode Island by placing an 800-pound spoon outside of the main…

Humana's Medicare Advantage membership is growing, and the health insurer said its joint venture with Walgreens Boots Alliance is driving some of the enrollment, according to Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen.

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia on Feb. 6 filed a civil lawsuit against the nonprofit group Safehouse, which plans to open a supervised space in Philadelphia for people to use illicit drugs, according to WHYY.

Anthem Medicare Advantage membership grew to more than 1 million beneficiaries in 2018, a 35 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen.

The CDC estimates more than 176,600 Americans died from opioid-related overdoses between 2013-17 — and roughly 25 percent, or 47,600, of those deaths occured in 2017, according to U.S. News & World Report.