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 White House quickly named a new leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed out Director Susan Monarez this week. Jim O’Neill, a senior Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official with deep ties to President Trump donor Peter Thiel, will take over the agency amid ...
Prior authorization is similar to how private insurers operate, often resulting in a delay or denial of treatments
GLP-1 agonists — including semaglutides like Ozempic and Wegovy and tirzepatides like Mounjaro and Zepbound — were originally intended to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. But in recent months, studies have shown that these popular medications can have numerous other health benefits. Some have even claimed that GLP-1s could eventually become the new “everything drug.” Dr. ...
This year’s updated Covid-19 vaccines have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for adults 65 and older and younger people with certain medical conditions that put them at a higher risk of a severe Covid-19 infection. Although federal officials have emphasized that people who want a Covid-19 vaccine can get one after ...
Benefits advisors and self-funded clients are entering a challenging renewal season. “Stop-loss premium increases in 2026 are likely to be the biggest in recent memory, and it’s because of increasingly frequent and severe high-dollar claims,” Richard Fleder, a longtime investor and executive in the self-funded space, recently told me. The stop-loss market grew to $35.4 ...
A federal judge has blocked multiple provisions of the Trump administration’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) overhaul from taking effect Monday as scheduled. The plaintiffs, including multiple large cities like Baltimore and Columbus, Ohio, as well as organizations like the Main Street Alliance, sued in an attempt to block the regulations in early July, arguing they could ...
In its new national campaign—titled "Health Insurance is Broken"—a television advertisement shows Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees struggling with the sign-up process, facing coverage denials due to unexpected changes and running into issues with prior authorization.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will seek external experts for a new committee tasked with providing strategic guidance on the care provided by government insurance programs. The HHS announced Thursday that the Healthcare Advisory Committee will offer recommendations to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet ...
US President Donald Trump has backed down from setting high tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors imported from the European Union. Last month, Trump said pharmaceuticals and semiconductors were not covered by the US and EU’s handshake trade deal – meaning those sectors could have faced tariffs rates of 250% and 100% respectively. But according to new details ...
Employers and benefits advisors are facing a growing challenge: How to offer access to these high-demand, life-changing therapies without undermining the financial sustainability of their health plans.