Industry Updates
This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.
Bipartisan lawmakers have introduced a bill that aims to more closely align Medicare insurers’ prior authorization denials with medical need, as determined by board-certified specialist physicians.
New taxes on prescription drugs imported from Canada could affect about 400 different drug products, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Migration Tool Performance: According to EN, approximately 30 brokers have successfully used the Ease>EN migration tool, which takes about five minutes per company. Notably, one broker has migrated 66 companies without any support from EN.
Braidwood oral arguments are set for April 21. A policy expert says many states will maintain the current standards, even if the federal rules go away
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will cut 10,000 full-time jobs and shut down several health agencies in an effort to restructure the department. The department will downsize from 82,000 to 62,000, because 10,000 workers have already taken early retirement and voluntary separation offers from the Trump administration. Although the massive layoffs have been part ...
Nonprofit hospitals’ 2024 financial performances are beating the prior year’s tough numbers, though even the stronger organizations remain “well below pre-pandemic levels,” Fitch Ratings said. In a Thursday brief describing the financial profiles of its rated nonprofit hospitals, the agency attributed the year-to-year improvements to stronger revenues and volumes as well as slightly mitigated, but ...
State, county and city governments are eager to hire former federal agency staffers targeted in DOGE cuts. But matching worker skills to local needs is a challenge.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says sweeping layoffs and restructuring in the department will bring order to a bureaucracy he claims is in “pandemonium.” But experts say the overhaul also likely gives him far greater control over dozens of federal health agencies. Why it matters: HHS has long functioned like a decentralized ...
A shorter open enrollment period, less help choosing a plan, higher health insurance premiums for many people — those are just a few changes now brewing that could affect your health insurance for 2026 if you have coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
The Word & Brown Companies today announced that several systems in use by Word & Brown® General Agency and CHOICE Administrators® have earned Certified status by HITRUST for information security. HITRUST r2 Certification demonstrates that The Word & Brown Companies’ systems have met demanding regulatory compliance and industry-defined requirements and are appropriately managing risk. By including federal and ...