Month: July 2021
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting business operations across the globe, the health insurance industry is no exception. Almost immediately, a new accelerated digital era began to reshape business as we know it — and the impact on our industry has begun to change how brokers will conduct business from here on.
After more than a decade of fruitless entreaties from public health advocates, Democratic lawmakers have secured a landmark agreement that promises $300 million a year in new state funding to fortify and reimagine California’s hollowed-out public health system, a complex network of services shouldered largely by the state’s 61 local health departments.
Future demand for healthcare services will be relatively flat to declining, with little to no effect from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new forecast report.
Businesses are worried that public option health plans taking shape in some states may end up costing them more than the high premiums they already pay.
Federal agencies have rolled out 411 pages of No Surprises Act regulations — without giving health insurance agents and brokers anything but one small hint about how they’ll implement the producer compensation disclosure section.
At least one major source of tension remains unresolved regarding the new law banning surprise medical bills: what it looks like for patients to willingly waive their protections — or refuse to waive them. Why it matters: This could yet again pit providers’ rights against their patients’. Driving the news: The Biden administration last week released the first ...
For weeks, experts have warned that the highly infectious delta variant would become the dominant coronavirus strain in California. Now the latest data show their prediction has come true. According to the state’s variant tracker, the delta variant, first identified in India, has gained momentum and accounted for 35.6% of cases sequenced in June. That’s ...
As the health insurance rate-setting season approaches, the big question on everyone’s mind is, “how will COVID-19 impact health premium rates in 2022?” While the full financial impact of COVID-19 is not yet known, it is expected that the ramifications of the pandemic will be experienced for years to come. Based on this, there are ...
A colonoscopy might cost you or your insurer a few hundred dollars — or several thousand, depending on which hospital or insurer you use. Long hidden, such price variations are supposed to be available in stark black and white under a Trump administration price transparency rule that took effect at the start of this year. It requires ...
The Biden administration on Thursday began putting in place consumer protections against “surprise” medical bills enacted in bipartisan legislation signed last year by former President Donald Trump. Regulations jointly issued by four federal agencies spell out protections for insured patients against surprise billing in medical emergencies, and unexpected charges from out-of-network doctors at an in-network ...