Author: Scott Welch
All the drugmakers that make the 10 prescription medicines subject to the first-ever price negotiations for the U.S. Medicare health program, including Amgen (AMGN.O) and Novartis (NOVN.S), said they signed on to participate in the talks by the Oct. 1 deadline.
New COVID-19 hospital admissions have decreased for a second consecutive week in California, signaling a modest but reassuring trend as the state emerges from a late-summer swell of infections.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) met with representatives from the health insurance industry on Wednesday, receiving commitments that the updated COVID-19 vaccines will be covered after reports arose of some people having to pay out-of-pocket for their immunizations.
Congress came together Saturday to secure a last-minute deal to continue government funding for 45 days and avoid a government shutdown, bucking the overwhelming consensus that a shutdown was inevitable.
Democratic members of the Senate Budget Committee voiced support for taxing the wealthy and increasing Medicare spending, arguing Republicans want to keep the status quo for corporations enjoying favorable tax breaks, during a hearing Thursday. The Medicare Fund could become insolvent as early as 2031, according to analysis by the boards of trustees of the Social Security ...
Recent reports suggest that health insurance costs are climbing at rates not seen in years. Consulting firm Mercer found in its 2023 national survey of employer-sponsored health plans that employers expect health benefit costs will rise 5.4% on average in 2024. Factors contributing to the higher costs are higher inflation and labor shortages. According to ...
While digital health still holds plenty of promise in healthcare, the lack of cohesion between Medicare, Medicaid and commercial health plans about just what digital services should be covered is a major hindrance to its expansion, according to an issue brief (PDF) by the American Medical Association (AMA). Medicare follows coverage guidelines laid out by the Centers ...
The Biden administration has gutted many of former President Donald Trump’s health care policies, but there’s one that the White House has yet to touch, Kelly reports. It’s a 2019 rule that expanded individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, or ICHRAs, which allowed employers to provide tax-exempt subsidies to help workers purchase Obamacare plans. The Biden administration’s ...
In a major victory for patients who depend on prescription drugs, Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down a Trump administration federal rule that allowed health insurers to not count drug manufacturer copay assistance towards a beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs. The case was brought against the U.S. Department of Health and ...
Seven percent. That’s the increase in medical costs for health plans that global consulting firm PwC estimates for 2024. But where did the number come from? Should health plan managers, and plan sponsors, be factoring it in with confidence? Based on PwC’s latest in-depth survey of health plan actuaries that represent 100 million covered lives, the answer is “yes.”