Compliance
This section focuses on health care compliance and regulations – both national and state – including the ACA. It includes changes in health care law, regulation, and court decisions and their impact on health insurance professionals, employers, and individuals.
After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins is retiring this weekend. But he’s no less worried about the public health agency’s latest pandemic curveball. As the omicron variant threatens record-breaking rates of infections in the U.S., Collins departs with a warning. If Americans don’t take ...
The swift arrival of a new coronavirus variant has rekindled economic anxieties in Washington, as congressional lawmakers, business leaders and consumer advocates begin to worry whether there is enough federal aid to shield Americans from another round of financial despair. Over the course of the nearly two-year pandemic, Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion toward ...
Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) on Monday cut the price of its Alzheimer’s drug by about half to $28,200 for an average weight person after facing slower-than-expected U.S. sales on complaints from hospitals that its high cost was not worth its benefits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug, Aduhelm, in June to treat the brain-wasting ...
Each year brings annual compliance responsibilities to employers regarding their health plans and federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and COBRA responsibilities. It’s important for employers to be aware of – and adhere to – these responsibilities.
U.S. healthcare spending skyrocketed in 2020 as the federal government invested significantly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS’ Office of the Actuary released its annual report on health expenditures, which found spending increased by 9.7% in 2020 to reach $4.2 trillion. ...
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that there will be “no need” to shut down the U.S. economy “in any way,” adding that the country has the tools necessary to fight the Omicron variant. The big picture: There is an increase of coronavirus cases, driven by the Delta variant, across the country, and CDC ...
The omicron variant infects around 70 times faster than delta and the original Covid-19 strain, though the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a University of Hong Kong study that adds weight to the early on-ground observations from South African doctors. The supercharged speed of omicron’s spread in the human bronchus was ...
Employer health insurance costs spiked in 2021, and it remains unclear if this is a one-off course correction or the beginning of a new trend, according to a new Mercer survey.
The head of a Senate panel that oversees Medicare says the Biden administration should use its legal authority to cut back a hefty premium increase soon hitting millions of enrollees, as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers call for action amid worries over rising inflation.
Two of the largest lobbying groups representing physicians and hospitals filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a Biden administration decision on how to implement the law shielding patients from most surprise medical bills. The lawsuit from the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association does not seek to halt the law from going into effect in January. Instead, ...