Month: June 2023
Yet another bill that aims to reform the pharmacy benefit management industry has been introduced in Congress, this time by the Senate Finance Committee. The Patients Before Middlemen Act would prevent PBMs that contract with Medicare Part D plans from tying service fees to the price of a drug, rebates, discounts or other fees. PBMs would also ...
Many small business owners are struggling to provide retirement savings benefits, a new study from Fidelity has found. The firm’s 2023 Small Business Retirement Index found that almost half (48%) of small business owners say they cannot afford to offer a retirement plan. Only one-third (34%) offer some form of retirement benefits to employees. The report comes ...
The Biden Administration announced Thursday that the Inflation Reduction Act is continuing to lower out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. As of July 1, 2023, coinsurances for 43 drugs will be lower for beneficiaries who take these medications. The savings will range from $1 to $372 per average dose, depending on the individual coverage. ...
Health insurer stocks dropped Wednesday after UnitedHealth Group warned of higher medical costs as older Americans start to catch up on surgeries they delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shares of UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health-care provider by market value, closed around 6% lower. Medicare-focused insurer Humana declined 11%. Elevance Health closed roughly 7% lower, and CVS Health, which owns insurer Aetna, slid nearly 8%. Insurance companies have ...
Hospital revenues appear to be on the upswing as more patients receive care — which is welcome news for the hospital industry and not-so-great for insurers. Why it matters: Hospitals have been warning for months that their financial stability is threatened by inflation, labor costs and other factors in the wake of the pandemic, which could ultimately threaten patient ...
A surge of Medicare spending on hospitals and other services later this decade will help U.S. health care expenditures outpace inflation and top $7.2 trillion by 2031, federal actuaries said on Wednesday. Why it matters: The new projections show medical spending across all categories rebounding from the pandemic doldrums, with hospitals being the biggest cost-driver. That likely will ...
Your small business clients may be eligible to apply for reimbursement of costs incurred in connection with the California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave program. Qualifying employers are eligible for $5,000 to $50,000. Funds awarded can be used solely to reimburse California employers that offered COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave between January 1, 2022, through ...
Roughly 200 years ago, a Belgian mathematician and statistician named Adolphe Quetelet, seeking to characterize “normal man,” observed that adults’ body weight in kilograms is roughly proportional to the square of their height in meters – a measurement that came to be referred to as the Quetelet index. It wasn’t until 1972, when physiologist Dr. Ancel Keys proposed it as ...
We’ve all heard the adage: “You are what you eat.” It’s a common proverb that originated in the 19th century by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who is largely credited as the founding father of the gastronomy bible. His pièce de résistance was the book, “The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy,” in which he ...
The end of COVID continuous coverage requirements for Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies after 2025 will affect both health-care spending and sources of coverage. The Congressional Budget Office in late May released its latest estimates for Americans younger than age 65.