Senate Dems Reach Draft Deal To Extend ACA Premiums, Lower Drug Costs

The bill, a slimmed-down version of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better package, also allows Medicare to negotiate select prescription drug prices beginning in 2026 and caps Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs in 2025.

Read More

Employees Are Increasingly On The Hook For Their Medical Costs

The growth of high-deductible health plans led to people with employer-sponsored coverage paying for a larger share, on average, of their health care costs between 2013 and 2019, according to a new analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Read More

CMS Calls For Public Input To Improve Medicare Advantage

The CMS is asking for public feedback on how to make the Medicare Advantage program more affordable, sustainable and equitable for enrollees, while driving better health outcomes.

Read More

COVID: Reinfections account for 50,000 California cases this month. Here’s how that number is rising

Have you had COVID a second time? Or a third? If so, you are in good company. New data from California’s public health department show that in the first three weeks of July there were more than 50,000 documented reinfections, accounting for 1 in 7 new COVID cases through the middle of the month. And, ...

Read More

Inflation-Dogged Health Systems Confident Payers Will Concede Higher Rates In 2023 Contract Negotiations

Executives from some of the country’s largest for-profit health systems say it’s likely their organizations will be able to pass rising cost pressures along to commercial insurers during the next round of contract negotiations. Speaking to investors during earnings calls this past week, the hospital chains each reported limited non-COVID volumes, supply chain interruptions and ...

Read More

Democrats Face Tough Messaging War on Prescription Drug Bill

Democrats want to go into their August recess telling their constituents they’re lowering what they pay for medicines — but many of their promised changes won’t be felt for years, and only by a fraction of the nation. Drug-pricing legislation is expected to get a vote in the Senate as soon as this week as ...

Read More

CMS Finalizes 4.3% Bump For Hospital Inpatient Payments In 2023

The Biden administration finalized a 4.3% bump for inpatient payments for the federal fiscal year 2023, an increase compared to the 3.2% that was originally proposed back in April. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released on Monday the final Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System rule that ...

Read More

$85 Million in Tax Credits Available for California Businesses

This year’s California Competes Tax Credit (CCTC) application period is underway and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) has up to $85 million in tax credits available to award businesses that want to locate in California or stay and grow in the state. The tax credit program has a total of $304,727,233 ...

Read More

Citing a Mental Health Crisis Among Young People, California Lawmakers Target Social Media

Karla Garcia said her son’s social media addiction started in fourth grade, when he got his own computer for virtual learning and logged on to YouTube. Now, two years later, the video-sharing site has replaced both schoolwork and the activities he used to love — like composing music or serenading his friends on the piano, ...

Read More

Part D Premiums to Decline by 2% in 2023: CMS

The feds expect Medicare Part D premiums to decline by nearly 2% next year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said Friday that it expects the average premium to decrease to $31.50 in 2023, or about 1.8% from the 2022 rate of $32.08. The projected monthly premiums are based on bids to CMS ...

Read More
arrowcaret-downclosefacebook-squarehamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarepauseplaytwitter-squareyoutube-square