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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.

They Got Estimates Before Surgery — And A Bill After That Was 50% More

From a planning perspective, Wolfgang Balzer is the perfect health care consumer. Balzer, an engineer, knew for several years he had a hernia that would need to be repaired, but it wasn’t an emergency, so he waited until the time was right.

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Overall costs for generic drugs decline, but consumers not seeing the savings

A new study finds that generic drugs are a good deal for consumers; even given the cost-shifting that comes with some health plans, generic prices have gone down steadily in recent years. However, the move to high-deductible health plans means that consumers have seen fewer overall savings than they might have.

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Bernie Sanders proposes writing off $81B in medical debt

Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing to cancel an estimated $81 billion in past-due medical debt owed by Americans as he vies for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination using a platform focused on health care.

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When Apps get Your Medical Data, Your Privacy May Go With It

Americans may soon be able to get their medical records through smartphone apps as easily as they order takeout food from Seamless or catch a ride from Lyft.

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Health Care Costs as Much as a New Car

Buying a new car every year would be a very impractical expense. It would also be cheaper than a year’s worth of health care for a family. Why it matters: The cost-shifting and complexity of health insurance can hide its high cost, which crowds out families’ other needs and depresses workers’ wages.

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Senate Battleground Dems Shun ‘Medicare for All’

The major battleground-state Democrats running to flip the Senate want nothing to do with "Medicare for All." In states like Arizona, Iowa and North Carolina, challengers Mark Kelly, Theresa Greenfield and Cal Cunningham are staying tightly focused on the health care message House Democrats used in 2018: expanding Medicaid, protecting Obamacare and slamming Republican repeal efforts.

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Biden Knocks Trump, Democratic Rivals In New TV Ad Touting Affordable Care Act

Joe Biden knocks both President Trump and some of his fellow Democratic White House hopefuls in a television ad that debuted Tuesday in Iowa in which the former vice president suggests they are all a threat to the Affordable Care Act.

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Judge Cites Opioid ‘Menace,’ Awards Oklahoma $572M In Landmark Case

An Oklahoma judge has ruled that drugmaker Johnson & Johnson helped ignite the state’s opioid crisis by deceptively marketing painkillers and must pay $572 million to the state.

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Costly Specialty Drugs Make Up 40% of 2018 Employer Drug Spending Despite Few Prescriptions

Specialty drugs for treatments such as arthritis accounted for less than 1% of prescriptions for a major employer purchasing group but made up 40% of the group’s total drug spending last year, according to a new analysis.

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Here’s How the Top Insurers Performed in the 2nd Quarter of 2019

The country's biggest health insurers raked in more than $11 billion in profit in the second quarter, particularly as recent mergers and newly-launched business lines began to bear fruit. The clearest example of this trend is CVS Health, which posted a Q2 profit loss in 2018 but saw profits return to the black and revenues increase significantly following its acquisition of Aetna.

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