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.
A historic three-day strike at Kaiser Permanente ended on Saturday, but the parties have not yet agreed to a new contract for over 75,000 workers. The unions say another strike may be coming.
Businesses are bracing for an explosion in the use of new weight loss drugs, with some investors betting that these medications could precipitate seismic shifts not only in how Americans eat but which clothes they buy and even how much they weigh down passenger airplanes. Some companies say they are already noticing a difference in ...
Just two weeks after dozens of CVS pharmacists protested unsafe working conditions by walking off the job in Kansas City, Walgreens pharmacists followed suit with their own walkout Monday that left stores shuttered or short-staffed across the nation’s second-largest retail pharmacy chain. The organizer estimated that several hundred pharmacists and pharmacy technicians participated in the protest, which ...
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the HELP Committee, recently floated changes in artificial intelligence regulation in health care and sought feedback on the potential framework. Pulse obtained a number of the responses from groups representing members across the sector, including hospitals, health IT leaders, health plans and more. Some responses called for lawmakers and regulators to avoid creating ...
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) met with representatives from the health insurance industry on Wednesday, receiving commitments that the updated COVID-19 vaccines will be covered after reports arose of some people having to pay out-of-pocket for their immunizations.
Congress came together Saturday to secure a last-minute deal to continue government funding for 45 days and avoid a government shutdown, bucking the overwhelming consensus that a shutdown was inevitable.
Recent reports suggest that health insurance costs are climbing at rates not seen in years. Consulting firm Mercer found in its 2023 national survey of employer-sponsored health plans that employers expect health benefit costs will rise 5.4% on average in 2024. Factors contributing to the higher costs are higher inflation and labor shortages. According to ...
While digital health still holds plenty of promise in healthcare, the lack of cohesion between Medicare, Medicaid and commercial health plans about just what digital services should be covered is a major hindrance to its expansion, according to an issue brief (PDF) by the American Medical Association (AMA). Medicare follows coverage guidelines laid out by the Centers ...
In a major victory for patients who depend on prescription drugs, Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down a Trump administration federal rule that allowed health insurers to not count drug manufacturer copay assistance towards a beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs. The case was brought against the U.S. Department of Health and ...
Seven percent. That’s the increase in medical costs for health plans that global consulting firm PwC estimates for 2024. But where did the number come from? Should health plan managers, and plan sponsors, be factoring it in with confidence? Based on PwC’s latest in-depth survey of health plan actuaries that represent 100 million covered lives, the answer is “yes.”