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Covid-19

Michigan to rebid contracts for health plans under Medicaid and MIHealthyLife

LANSING — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has provided new information related to the rebidding of contracts for health plans that provide services to 2.2 million Michiganders receiving coverage through Medicaid and Michigan’s Healthy Michigan Plan. MDHHS is announcing network requirements and minimum qualifications for bidders in its upcoming request for proposals for the Comprehensive Health Care Program contract for Michigan’s Medicaid health plans. “We want to provide Michiganders served by Medicaid health plans with a more equitable, coordinated and ...

CDC to launch program for free COVID vaccines

ATLANTA — To help ensure that millions of uninsured and underinsured American adults continue to have access to no-cost COVID-19 vaccinations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s launching the Bridge Access Program for COVID-19 vaccines this fall. There are an estimated 25-30 million adults without insurance in the U.S., and there are additional adults whose insurance will not provide free coverage for COVID-19 vaccines after these products transition to the commercial market for procurement, distribution, and pricing, later this fall. The pandemic highlighted ...

Report shows intelligence agencies still divided on origins of COVID-19

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began. The report was issued at the behest of ...

Wisconsin Republicans want end to child care subsidy

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature voted early Friday to end funding for a pandemic-era child care subsidy program over the objections of Democrats and child care providers who argued that the move would be devastating for needy families and the state’s ...

State data shows local COVID activity continuing to go down

State data again showed COVID-19 activity declining both in the Upper Peninsula and across Michigan in the past two weeks, as the federal government officially downgrades the pandemic from being a public health emergency. Iron County on Tuesday had eight new confirmed virus positives since ...

As emergency ends, pandemic assistance already fading away

WASHINGTON (AP) — The formal end of the national Public Health Emergency on Thursday is largely a symbolic and psychological step, representing the country’s formal emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic. But behind the scenes, several core aspects of America’s pandemic-era emergency ...