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.
The Trump administration on Monday announced that it has reached agreements with nine midsized pharmaceutical companies to offer most-favored nation (MFN) prices for prescription drugs to U.S. consumers. The agreements will provide every state Medicaid program access to MFN drug prices on products made by these companies. Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, ...
A health insurance giant is trying to show physicians and policymakers that it’s serious about reducing the impact of prior authorization reviews on providers and patients. UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare unit has posted a list of procedure codes for about 1,700 procedures that will no longer be subject to routine prior authorization review requirements. The simpler items on ...
An international crime ring helps Americans get licensed as insurance agents or brokers, then uses the new producers’ credentials to bilk health insurers and the federal government. Officials at the Iowa Division of Insurance put out a warning about the new enrollment fraud strategy Tuesday. The criminals start by contacting job hunters or other would-be insurance producers. ...
One year into its creation, a $50 billion federal program aimed at improving rural healthcare lacks transparency, which could make it difficult to protect against fraud, identify successful projects, and ensure the program delivers on its promise to transform the system. Transparency “is really important to help protect the integrity of the program, ensure funds ...
Analysts at the Congressional Budget Office think members of Congress will need to know a lot about small employers’ health benefits this fall. The CBO posted a comprehensive guide to the small-employer health benefit market Tuesday. The agency’s analysts looked at options such as traditional self-insured health plans; association health plans; and ICHRA plans. High ...
Centene subsidiary Health Net is pulling out of the commercial employer group market in California and Oregon, the company confirmed to Becker’s. “Health Net has made the decision to exit the traditional commercial group business in California and Oregon in order to focus on government sponsored healthcare,” a spokesperson for the insurer said in a statement. ...
Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) — a leading data aggregator of health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry — has compared year-over-year profitability for the Individual, Employer-Group, Medicare Advantage, and managed Medicaid health insurance segments. “For 2025, the Individual and Group segments experienced declines in both membership and profitability, with the Individual ...
Dolly Parton, the country music icon known for hits like “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You,” died Aug. 25 in Nashville, Tenn., at the age of 80, after a brief battle with cancer. Beyond her music and film career, Ms. Parton spent decades directing philanthropic dollars toward hospitals and medical research, much ...
It’s been nine months since the opening of the country’s largest all-electric acute care hospital in Irvine, California. UCI Health was already in the planning stages of its new Irvine campus when the University of California (UC) established a policy that no new or renovated buildings could burn fossil fuels for space and water heating. ...
Insurance broker Aon announced on Monday it will purchase rival USI Insurance Services from private equity firm KKR. The $17 billion deal, which will be funded by Aon with new debt, is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals. CEO Greg Case in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday said that the merger ...