Author: Scott Welch

Starting Saturday, people experiencing mental health crises need to remember just three numbers to dial for help: 988. The new federal number — debuting in California and across the country this weekend — is billed as an alternative to 911 for people experiencing mental health emergencies. Here, advocates say the shortcut will make it simpler ...

A new analysis of marketplace insurers’ early rate filings in 13 states and the District of Columbia finds that they are seeking higher premium increases than in recent years, largely due to rising prices paid to hospitals, doctors and drug companies and increased use of services by enrollees. The median proposed rate increase is 10% across 72 ...

U.S. regulators Wednesday authorized the nation’s fourth coronavirus vaccine, a shot developed by Novavax, a Maryland biotechnology company that has been a straggler in the vaccine race. For a relatively small niche of people who want to be vaccinated, but can’t or won’t take existing vaccines, Wednesday’s decision by the Food and Drug Administration has been ...

Several provider groups are slamming recent payment rules offering small price hikes for 2023, as COVID-19 relief in place for more than two years erodes. Groups are clamoring for regulators to boost payments in the proposed 2023 Physician Fee Schedule and Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rules. Providers say that added pressures of labor shortages, inflation and renewed surges ...

California will start making its own affordable insulin as part of an effort to combat high drug prices for a lifesaving medication that has been made inaccessible for some Americans living with diabetes, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Thursday.

Senate Democrats want to boost taxes on some high earners and use the money to extend the solvency of Medicare, the latest step in the party’s election-year attempt to craft a scaled-back version of the economic package that collapsed last year

As a result, employers must examine their employee benefits package.  Employers and insurance carriers have an opportunity to modernize employee benefits to combat the Great Resignation, the Great Realignment, or Turnover Tsunami as the phenomenon is described.

The spring coronavirus swell that’s turning into the summer coronavirus surge is starting to result in more hospital admissions, although the amount of serious illness is still far less than before widespread vaccination.

The spring coronavirus swell that’s turning into the summer coronavirus surge is starting to result in more hospital admissions, although the amount of serious illness is still far less than before widespread vaccination.

Watch out, pharma—the federal government has its eye on add-on drug patents that can lead to higher prices. In a new effort, the FDA and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) are teaming up to take a close look at patenting procedures. Wednesday, the PTO said it plans to crack down on patenting of “incremental, obvious ...