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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.

Supreme Court Appears Split Over Opioid Settlement for Purdue Pharma

The justices’ questions reflected the tension between the practical effect of unraveling the settlement and broader concerns about whether the Sacklers should be granted such wide-ranging immunity.

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Analysts Say A Cigna-Humana Merger Is Likely To Face Major Antitrust Opposition. But Here’s How The Payers Could Eke Out...

The news that Cigna and Humana were weighing a potential merger sent shockwaves through the industry earlier this week, and analysts said the deal is likely to face major pushback from regulators—though there are avenues that could be used to push the deal through. Daniel Jones, who pens the investment newsletter Crude Value Insights, wrote ...

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Business Group On Health: 4 Employer Health Trends To Watch In 2024

Employers are going to be expecting more from their partners going into 2024 as they look to address issues ranging from mental health to drug costs to wellness. The Business Group on Health released on Tuesday its annual look at the trends employers are watching in the coming year, and said that their members are likely to ...

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Health Care Is Front and Center as DeSantis and Newsom Go Mano a Mano

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — political rivals from opposite coasts and proxies for red and blue America — are set to square off for a first-of-its-kind debate Nov. 30 in Georgia. Newsom, a liberal firebrand in his second term as governor of California, isn’t running for president in 2024. ...

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The US Doesn’t Have Universal Health Care — But These States (Almost) Do

Universal health care remains an unrealized dream for the United States. But in some parts of the country, the dream has drawn closer to a reality in the 13 years since the Affordable Care Act passed.

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More Employers Consider Narrow Networks, Low Deductibles

Four in 10 employers offer low or no-deductible plans, and 15% of employers will offer their employees coverage with no premium, according to Mercer’s “Health and Benefit Strategies for 2024” report.  The report, published Nov. 17, surveyed 1,917 public and private employers. The number of employers offering free coverage to employees increased from 11% from 2022. ...

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Biden Invokes Cold War-Era Measure To Boost Medical Supplies

President Joe Biden on Monday invoked a Cold War-era measure to boost investment in U.S. manufacturing of medicines and medical supplies that he has deemed important for national defense. Biden used the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council to boast about his administration efforts to improve supply chains upended by the COVID pandemic ...

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No One’s Promising You Can Keep Your Doctor Anymore

President Barack Obama famously told Americans they could keep their doctors. At the rate things are going, it won’t be long before many Americans don’t have one in the first place — at least not the way they’re used to. The math is simple: Medical schools just aren’t churning out doctors fast enough to keep ...

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Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, Expion Health Team To Address Specialty Drug Costs

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company has inked its latest partnership, joining forces with Expion Health to address the rising cost of specialty drugs. Cost Plus Drugs’ pricing model will integrate into Expion’s dynamic pricing technology, harnessing the power of both for speciality medications. Expion’s tool and Cost Plus Drugs’ approach together “equips payers with ...

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2024 FSA, HSA, and HDHP Plan Limits

A health Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is an employer-sponsored benefit that allows eligible employees to save pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified medical expenses. Employees can elect a specific dollar amount, up to a certain limit, to set aside annually.

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