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.
House Republicans during a Tuesday hearing blamed hospital and health systems for high health costs, excoriating a group of CEOs for exorbitant benefits packages, large profit margins and mergers. “Our communities are better off with hospitals in them, but large health systems have taken advantage of that reality,” Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said. “Simply put, hospitals are charging an insane amount for care.” ...
Hospital CEOs came under fire at a House hearing Tuesday, with Republicans accusing them of overcharging patients and exploiting the system. Executives from HCA Healthcare, CommonSpirit Health, New York-Presbyterian and ECU Health testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, defending their pricing practices — including that they should be able to charge higher prices for the same services ...
Humana executives gave investors a peek Wednesday into the company’s thinking around the 2027 Medicare Advantage bid cycle as elevated costs continue to sting the industry. CEO Jim Rechtin said during the insurer’s earnings call that to achieve the goal of returning to a “stable margin” by 2028, it will need to look at adjustments ...
Health costs continue to top the public’s list of affordability worries, and while Democrats have an edge over Republicans, both parties need to do more to convince independents, according to a new poll from health policy research group KFF. About nine in 10 voters said the issue of health costs will influence their decision to vote and who to vote for in ...
Supreme Court justices on Wednesday heard oral arguments over a drug approval pathway that could have implications for the availability of cheaper generic medicines. The case, Hikma v. Amarin, centers on “skinny labeling,” a process that allows generic drugs to come to market faster. Under the skinny labeling pathway, the Food and Drug Administration allows ...
When Congress approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer, it cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. Now, the hope is the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, which was part of the same bill, will help keep patients covered.
CalMatters interviewed five leading candidates who want to regulate one of the world’s biggest insurance markets. Here’s what they said.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit to intervene in a scheme in which it says fraudulent telemarketers targeted individuals seeking insurance coverage. Per the complaint (PDF), which was filed earlier this month, the FTC alleges that participants in the scheme—who operated under names like American Collective and Innovative Partners—would contact consumers and tell them that they ...
Novartis’ CEO warned Tuesday that the U.S. drug pricing policy under President Donald Trump poses a “very difficult situation” and the reality will soon catch up with both drugmakers and patients. “The longer-term implications are significant,” CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC’s Carolin Roth. “The reality of MFN is going to set in in the next 18 ...
Last summer, the insurance industry broadly agreed to reform a major healthcare pain point: prior authorization. Now, two of the industry’s leading organizations are offering a look at progress toward those goals. AHIP and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released a report on Tuesday that found leading health plans reduced prior authorizations for an array of ...