Author: Scott Welch
When COVID-19 smacked the United States in March and April, health plans feared medical costs could skyrocket, jacking up premiums drastically in 2021, when millions of the newly unemployed might still be out of work.
Advocates of protecting consumers from surprise medical bills using a market-based payment benchmark are pushing to include their fix in the next COVID-19 relief package, but they face significant hurdles.
Premiums for health plans sold through Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange, will rise an average of 0.6% next year — the smallest hike since the exchange started providing coverage in 2014, the agency announced Tuesday.
Negotiators on a huge coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks resumed in the Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and aid to schools struggling to reopen safely assuming a higher profile in the talks.
As Congress continues to flounder on a path forward for the next phase of coronavirus relief, President Donald Trump said Monday that he was considering executive action if Congress fails to act.
Small businesses still have until August 8 to apply for potentially forgivable loans via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was extended from its original June 30 deadline. While a second PPP is under consideration in the Continuing Small Business Recovery and Paycheck Protection Program Act, part of the HEALS Act in the Senate, it’s more restrictive and the available amounts are smaller.
A new IRS directive would allow employers to help pay for direct primary care on behalf of their employees, but is it a good thing?
Americans continue to wait in long lines to get tested for the coronavirus. Many then face frustration and anxiety waiting days — sometimes even weeks — to get their results.
Starting this month, some providers are facing the prospect of their Medicare payments garnished to repay COVID-19 loans.
Pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur have announced they will supply 100 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the United States as governments buy up supplies in hopes of securing a candidate that works.