Industry Updates Category Banner

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.

Employee Benefits Help Provide A Solid Financial Foundation For Many U.S. Workers

Employee benefits help provide a solid financial foundation for many U.S. workers. Seven in 10 have at least one employer-provided insurance policy other than health insurance this year. “Insurance is the bread and butter of many financial advisors, but we must know what protections clients get at work to make sure our offerings are as ...

Read More

Oscar Health Execs Weigh In On Future Of ACA Subsidies, Signal 2024 Profitability

Enrollment in individual market plans continues to grow, with a record high of 21.3 million people signing up for plans during the most recent open enrollment period. Much of that, however, is due to expanded premium subsidies, which launched during the pandemic and were extended through 2025. Officials at Oscar Health, which has reaped the ...

Read More

‘Behind the Times’: Washington Tries to Catch Up With AI’s Use in Health Care

Lawmakers and regulators in Washington are starting to puzzle over how to regulate artificial intelligence in health care — and the AI industry thinks there’s a good chance they’ll mess it up. “It’s an incredibly daunting problem,” said Bob Wachter, the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. “There’s a ...

Read More

U.S. Drug Prices Are 278% Higher Than Other Developed Countries

It is not news that prices paid for prescription drug are higher in the U.S. than prices paid in other developed countries. But a RAND analysis published today shows that difference is growing and remains.

Read More

Most Adults Have No Idea What They Should Expect To Pay For Health Care

Fewer than 1 in 5 adults (17%) say they know how much health care products or services will cost in advance, according to new Gallup polling with Bentley University.

Read More

Facing The Future: Health Insurance And Health Care 2024 Trends

Health insurance and health care industry analysts don’t all agree. But there is some consensus about a few “hot topics” likely to impact brokers and your clients in 2024. Let’s take a look at five. Rising Health Insurance Premiums As we reported last fall, U.S. employers are expected to see a larger increase in premiums ...

Read More

Pharmacies Are Struggling To Refill Their Own Ranks

Pharmacy retail chains staking their future on expanding the health care services they offer are running into a big problem: It’s getting harder to draw the next generation of pharmacists amid turmoil in the industry. Why it matters: The pharmacies’ ambitions to become go-to providers for vaccinations, patient monitoring and even prescribing are being threatened by workforce shortages and burnout, ...

Read More

The FTC Is Attacking Drugmakers’ ‘Patent Thickets’

The Federal Trade Commission has challenged the validity of over 100 drug product patents, focusing on devices used to deliver medicines, like inhalers and autoinjectors, in an effort to increase competition and potentially lower some prices.

Read More

Ouch. That ‘Free’ Annual Checkup Might Cost You. Here’s Why.

When Kristy Uddin, 49, went in for her annual mammogram last year, she assumed she would not incur a bill because the test is one of the many preventive measures guaranteed to be free to patients under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Read More

Pharma Price Cut Proposals From U.S. Government Could Be Steep, Analysts Say

 Pharmaceutical companies are due to receive by Thursday the U.S. government's opening proposal for what are expected to be significant discounts on 10 of its high-cost medicines, an important step in the Medicare health program's first ever price negotiations.

Read More
arrowcaret-downclosefacebook-squarehamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarepauseplaytwitter-squareyoutube-square