Aimed Alliance

The Aimed Alliance team is thrilled to share our 2023 Annual Impact Report which highlights our state and federal legislative and regulatory wins, new consumer resources, our work in thought leadership, and more! In 2024, we plan to continue our advocacy to protect health care consumers and providers, and we are looking forward to engaging in new initiatives to help ensure the important protections patient have won are enforced! Read the Annual Impact Report here: https://lnkd.in/eHXJHyuM #healthcare #team #work #patientadvocacy #ACA

What is non-medical switching? Non-medical switching occurs when a health plan requires patients to switch from their current effective medication to an alternative drug for non-medical reasons. Health insurers do this by choosing to no longer cover the drugs or increasing a patient’s out-of-pocket costs for the drug. Forced switching of medications can cause negative health consequences and increase costs for consumers. Want to learn more about non-medical switching? Head to AimedAlliance.org to learn more! Can’t find what you are looking for? Email policy@aimedalliance.org https://lnkd.in/edGgdksT

Your boss might not be responding to your emails, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to respond to Aimed Alliance’s citizen petition on alternative funding program’s use of international importation. In March 2024, Aimed Alliance submitted a Citizen Petition to the FDA regarding international importation. The petition asks the following questions: (1) Can third-party companies that partner with employer-sponsored health plans legally require employees to import their prescription drugs from outside the United States; and (2) Whether third-party companies that partner with employer-sponsored health plans can import prescription drugs on behalf of consumers enrolled in an alternative funding program. The FDA must respond to our Citizen Petition by the beginning of September! Read the Citizen Petition here: https://lnkd.in/egqNUUWz And follow @AimedAlliance on all platforms to stay up to date on the FDA’s upcoming response.

Aimed Alliance is launching a new series to help educate consumers on the terminology surrounding health insurance, coverage, benefits, and the laws governing health plans. Up first, ERISA! So, what is ERISA? ERISA stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. This law sets minimum standards for retirement and health plans provided by employers, including disclosure requirements, the right to an appeal, the right to sue for benefits, and more. As a federal law, this law supersedes any state law. However, this law only applies to employer-sponsored health plans. Importantly, employer sponsored health plans that are self-insured can only be regulated by this law. Whereas, employer-sponsored plans that are fully insured can be regulated by state law and ERISA. If you are unsure whether your health plan is self-insured or fully insured ask your HR Department! Visit the Department of Labor’s website to learn more about ERISA. https://lnkd.in/eNkxEXKS.

Aimed Alliance joined over 40 advocacy organizations in submitting a comment to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. The letter addressed alternative funding programs and health plan obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Read the letter to learn more about advocates concerns with alternative funding programs. #HealthCare #Health #PatientRights #Insurance #Patients #HealthPlan #HealthEducation

The rising cost of healthcare, and prescription drugs in particular, is a source of anxiety for employers with each new plan year. To help ensure employers are aware of how these programs impact employers and employees, Aimed Alliance, the Alliance for Patient Access, and the HR Research Institute have surveyed employers to understand how they view these programs. View the report here https://lnkd.in/efNqWG8a

In June, Aimed Alliance Counsel, Ashira Vantrees, moderated a panel at #BIO2024 on "Alternative Funding Programs: Protecting Patients in an Ever-Changing Health Care Landscape.” Thank you to Theresa Alban, JD, Senior Manager Federal Policy at Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; Richard Meyers., JD, Head of State Policy at Bristol Myers Squibb; Kollet Koulianos, MBA on behalf of the Hemophilia Alliance; and Kim Czubaruk, JD, Associate Vice President of Policy at CancerCare, for participating in this conversation and sharing your experiences with AFPs. To learn more about AFPs visit Aimed Alliance’s website and click on AFP Resource Hub under our “Initiatives” tab.

Excited to work with Aimed Alliance and Western New York BloodCare to get this story covered by local news outlets in Upstate New York.

A new resource from Aimed Alliance sheds light on the harmful effects of #PDABs. One unintended consequence: these boards run by political appointees could limit patient access to essential medications. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eytYzEXQ

Loopholes in the patient protection and affordable care act can impact patients ability to access necessary treatments. Aimed Alliance released a fact sheet which highlights how some health plans define specialty medications as non-essential health benefits (EHB) under ACA and how state and federal legislation can help close the EHB loophole. Read more about how these loopholes are affecting patients by swiping through the pages and head to AimedAlliance.org to read the full fact sheet . . . #HealthCare #PatientAdvocacy #PatientRights #Advocacy #HealthAdvocacy #HealthPlans #EHB #ACA