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 Federal Trade Commission and Cigna’s Evernorth unit have officially reached a settlement that resolves allegations that the company’s pharmacy benefit manager artificially drove up prices for insulin. As part of the settlement, Evernorth’s Express Scripts has agreed to several key business changes that are designed to reduce insulin prices significantly, the FTC said in ...
Paying for health care has become Americans’ top financial worry after Congress failed last year to extend some Affordable Care Act subsidies, triggering premium spikes for millions, a new survey finds. Two-thirds of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about affording health care, outranking concerns about paying for groceries, utilities or housing costs, according to the ...
A four-day partial US government shutdown is now over after the House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday to a funding measure and President Trump signed it into law. “I’m thrilled to sign the consolidated appropriations act to immediately re-open the federal government,” Trump said in the Oval Office late Tuesday afternoon. The vote in ...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is making California the front line in the resistance to the Trump administration’s revamped health care policies under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in what experts see as a politically savvy move that previews what a “Balkanized” public health landscape could look like as states lose faith in federal agencies. ...
Utah has become the first state in the United States to allow artificial intelligence, instead of a doctor, to renew certain medical prescriptions. The programme is part of a new pilot initiative, which was rolled out last month in partnership with health-tech start-up Doctronic. It allows an AI system to handle prescription renewals for patients ...
A federal judge in New York on Friday dismissed the death-eligible counts from Luigi Mangione’s indictment, clearing the way for his federal trial to begin in October. “Tortured and strange” though she said her conclusion may be, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled stalking is not a crime of violence and, therefore, not a predicate ...
Health insurers are warning that flat Medicare Advantage rates, as proposed by the Trump administration late Monday, would likely force them to take a deep look at the benefits they offer. Chris Bond, spokesperson for AHIP, the key lobbying organization for the insurance industry, said in a statement that the organization and its members “welcome reforms ...
Health insurance CEOs testifying before Congress about whether they’re to blame for soaring health care costs have a plan: pass the buck. Five CEOs of major insurers will make the case that the health care premiums they set are rising because of prices charged by other health care players — like hospitals and drugmakers — ...
Six annual spending bills for the current budget year are awaiting action in the Senate this week, including a key appropriations package that would fund the Department of Health and Human Services through Sept. 30. But the sweeping government funding package is now in peril as Senate Democrats vowed to oppose it in the wake ...
The House passed a key appropriations package that would fund the Department of Health and Human Services through Sept. 30, including a step toward reforms for pharmacy benefit managers. The package passed by a 341-88 vote, and it includes elements that would prevent PBMs from tying compensation in Part D to the list price of ...