Author: Scott Welch
David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons received a shocking letter from their health insurance provider when they checked their mail last week. Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026. “It’s insane. It’s unbelievable,” said Parsons, a 59-year-old retiree living in South Lake Tahoe. The couple is not ...
After several volatile years after the Affordable Care Act was first implemented, individual Marketplace premiums have become more similar to employer-sponsored coverage. “When insurers entered the ACA Marketplaces in 2014, they were operating with virtually no experience participating in an individual market like this,” according to a Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker report. “Insurers must submit premiums almost a year in advance ...
Executives at Aon and Arthur J. Gallagher say that the U.S. labor market still looks strong, but that big increases in U.S. health coverage costs are definitely getting employers’ attention. At Aon, the health solutions unit increased revenue 6%. “This is a 20%-plus segment of the U.S. economy, and costs are growing at 9% to 10% a year,” ...
In June, Becker’s predicted that 2025 would shape up to be the year of AI agents in healthcare. While AI agents are nothing new, more insurers are getting on the bandwagon. AI agents complete tasks autonomously to achieve specific goals. More broadly, though, AI use in health insurance has been contentious. CMS released AI guidance for Medicare Advantage plans in an effort ...
Medicare has locked in a controversial pay cut for specialty doctors next year, normalizing reimbursement between specialists and primary care doctors and curbing the influence of a powerful physician association in setting rates. The CMS finalized the 2026 Medicare physician fee schedule on Friday. The massive payment rule includes a so-called “efficiency adjustment,” which reduces ...
Two leading organizations representing Medicaid managed care plans are offering several key suggestions to the Trump administration for managing the rollout of work requirements in the program. In the letter (PDF), experts at Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA) and the Association for Community-Affiliated Plans (ACAP) urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to allow ...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is launching an effort to streamline the approval process for cheaper alternative “biosimilar” versions of biologic drugs as a way to curb health costs. The agency published a draft guidance for industry Wednesday that would potentially make it faster and less costly for companies to develop biologics and bring them to market, leading to increased competition and lower drug costs for patients. The ...
This year’s Obamacare open enrollment period, which started Nov. 1 in most states, is full of uncertainty and confusion for the more than 24 million people who buy health insurance through the federal and state Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Even with sign-up season underway, the fate of the enhanced premium tax credits that make coverage more affordable ...
The top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) resigned Sunday, according to officials, after being accused of using his position of authority to publicly denigrate a treatment tied to a former business associate. Dr. George Tidmarsh, a drug industry veteran who joined the administration in July, was placed on administrative leave Friday ...
As the candy bowls linger from Halloween and holiday treats are unwrapped, your teeth face a marathon of sugar exposure. “Halloween involves a lot of candy all at once,” Olga Ensz, D.M.D., M.P.H., told Fox News Digital. A clinical associate professor and director of community-based outreach at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, Ensz said the ...