³Ô¹Ï²»´òìÈ

Health care is one of the issues taking center stage in this November’s midterm elections as Democrats press Republicans on preserving protections for pre-existing conditions under ObamaCare. But there is also plenty of unfinished work for Congress and the administration this fall, from passing opioid legislation to tackling drug costs. (Hellmann and Sullivan, 8/30)

Nearly one-in-four residents of the Hartford metropolitan area have a pre-existing medical condition that might make it difficult for them to obtain insurance coverage for that illness if a key provision in the Affordable Care Act is overturned, a new study says. Protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions has become a hot-button issue in the midterm elections as the Trump administration has moved to undo some ACA provisions. (Radelat, 8/30)

The CMS made a profit from the Medicare Shared Savings Program last year as more accountable care organizations moved to risk-based contracts and gained experience, new federal data show. About 60% of the 472 Medicare ACOs generated a total of $1.1 billion in savings in 2017, according to the CMS data set released Thursday. The CMS paid $780 million in bonuses to the ACOs, but the agency still scored a $313.7 million gain from the program. (Castellucci and Dickson, 8/30)