Author: Scott Welch

Though COVID-19 forced California leaders to scale back their ambitious health care agenda, they still managed to enact significant new laws intended to lower consumer health care spending and expand access to health coverage.

To navigate the coronavirus pandemic, companies have had to act quickly and increase their flexibility on just about everything. Day-to-day business functions have been turned upside down by procedures to keep employees safe, leading to a surge in work-from-home (WFH) arrangements.

A new study from Mercer shows that employers are committed to providing their employees with benefits, despite the economic challenges they may be facing.

Insurers have succeeded in dismissing COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuits in 17 out of 23 cases heard so far, with a growing number of judges finding that some tangible alteration of a property is required to trigger coverage under commercial property policies.

A group of 16 drugmakers and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation signed a joint statement Sept. 30 promising that future COVID-19 therapies and vaccines will be distributed equally across the globe.

At a time of economic upheaval and uncertainty, most businesses in the US are trying to maintain their current benefits offerings to employees, a new report from Aflac finds. At the same time, employees are taking a closer look at their policies and weighing what may work best for them in the future.

President Donald Trump makes no secret he would like a COVID-19 vaccine to be available before the election. But it’s doubtful that will happen and, even after a vaccine wins FDA approval, there would be a long wait before it’s time to declare victory over the virus.

Arkansas Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni will defend before the U.S. Supreme Court the constitutionality of a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers next Tuesday.

Slightly more than half of respondents said they would get a low-cost coronavirus vaccine if it were available, according to a poll released on Monday.

Starting Oct. 1, several private health insurers will no longer fully pay for virtual visits under certain circumstances — effectively reinstituting costs for patients reliant on the virtual care that has been heralded as a lifeline at a time when Covid-19 is still killing more than 700 Americans each day.