Month: April 2019

The Congressional Budget Office has announced that it will be using a new model for budget projections that will account for new consumer and employer preferences when it estimates how proposed legislation will affect insurance coverage and premiums.

Emergency department visits have continued to rise even as more Americans gained health insurance after the Affordable Care Act came into play, according to a new study.

Workplace wellness programs have become an $8 billion industry in the U.S. But a study published Tuesday in JAMA found they don’t cut costs for employers, reduce absenteeism or improve workers’ health.

In 2017, Susan learned that she carries a genetic mutation that may elevate her lifetime risk of developing breast cancer to 72 percent. Her doctor explained that individuals who have this mutation in the BRCA2 gene have choices in treatment. Some people opt for a preventive double mastectomy. But Susan could instead choose to undergo increased cancer screenings, which, for her, would mean an annual mammogram and annual MRI scan.

When Josh Riff was leading benefits for Target, he found himself increasingly frustrated that he wasn’t able to take more of a lead when it came to managing the healthcare of his employees. “All the ideas, all the innovation, everything came through [our carrier],” he says. “We were on the hook to pay for our healthcare, but we weren’t doing anything proactive to change the trend or the curve except for what our provider was telling us to do.”

The CEO of the nation's largest health insurer on Tuesday sharply criticized "Medicare for all" proposals being debated by Democratic lawmakers and presidential hopefuls, weighing in on a major political fight ahead of the 2020 election.

Lower-income families with employer-based insurance spend a greater share of their income on healthcare expenses than those with higher incomes, according to new research.

One out of four small business owners surveyed in a 2018 poll from Insureon and Mantra admitted that they did not have workers’ compensation insurance. At the same time, 30% of the 900 respondents said that they weren’t certain if they were required to cover their employees in the first place, even though the risks these employees face don’t disappear just because of the business’s size.  

Lower-income families with employer-based insurance spend a greater share of their income on healthcare expenses than those with higher incomes, according to new research.

Sacramento-based Sutter Health and four of its affiliates agreed to pay out $30 million to the federal government to settle allegations that it had overcharged for services provided patients covered by Medicare’s managed care plan, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.