Insights | Meridian Research Group | Page 18

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas has granted a preliminary injunction preventing implementation of a first-of-its-kind AR law (Act 624) that prohibits PBMs from owning or operating pharmacies in the state. In his ruling, Judge Miller found that CVS Health, Cigna’s Express Scripts, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management...

Medicare Part D

As part of preliminary technical Medicare Part D bid information for CY26, CMS has announced modifications to the Voluntary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration.

Vaccine Injury Program

This week, HHS Secretary Kennedy issued a statement on Twitter/X indicating – with limited detail – that he intends to begin the process of “fixing” the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

End-of-Year Health Care Legislation (ACA, MA, Site Neutral, PBMs, Extenders)

There continue to be indications of interest on the part of Republicans in enacting a bipartisan health care bill by the end of this year. This is being catalyzed by growing focus on the end of year expiration of the ACA enhanced subsidies and the need to address Medicare and Medicaid “extenders”. We anticipate the visibility of this legislative...

Medicare Advantage: Upcoding, Prior Authorization, and Provider Rates

Republican lawmakers are in the early stages of developing healthcare legislation they hope to move through the legislative process on a bipartisan basis by year’s end. The legislation is expected to touch on a variety of issues (i.e., PBMs, various so-called “extenders”) and there is some consideration of including reforms to the Medicare...

Tech / Media / Telecom

AI/Semiconductor Export Controls

President Trump’s AI Action Plan expresses strong support for exporting the full AI technology stack (hardware and software) to allied countries. However, the Action Plan makes more explicit than any statement to-date that the administration supports using export controls to prevent China from getting access to advanced semiconductor technology.