Health Headlines for Wednesday, April 20

Marijuana Legalization in New England Is Stalled by Opiate Crisis

New York Times

First came Colorado and Washington. Then Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. Now advocates for legal marijuana are looking to New England, hoping this part of the country will open a new front in their efforts to expand legalization nationwide.

Read the full article


Debunking Republican Health Care Myths

New York Times

Central to the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz has been the claim that the Affordable Care Act has been a complete failure, and that the only way to save the country from this scourge is to replace it with something they design.

Read the full article


EmblemHealth to lay off workers

Crain’s New York Business

Karen Ignagni, who has been EmblemHealth chief executive for less than a year, is about to face her toughest challenge.

Read the full article


Express Scripts Countersues Anthem in Contract Dispute

Wall Street Journal

Express Scripts Holding Co., the largest administrator of U.S. prescription drug benefits, on Tuesday denied allegations that it is overcharging health-insurer Anthem Inc. for prescription drugs, the latest volley in a bitter contract dispute between the health-care giants.

Read the full article


Analysis of UnitedHealth Group’s Premiums and Participation in ACA Marketplaces

Kaiser Family Housing

In late 2015, amid a series of closures of relatively small co-op health plans, the nation’s largest private insurer, UnitedHealth Group, announced that it too expected losses in its Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace business and would reconsider its participation in the Marketplaces in the first half of 2016.

Read the full article