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.
Moderna hopes to offer a new set of life-saving vaccines targeting cancer, heart disease and other conditions by 2030, a spokesperson for the company told CNBC on Monday. The spokesperson confirmed remarks Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, made to the Guardian on Saturday. Burton said he’s confident those jabs will be ready by the end of the ...
About 60% of the 173 million people enrolled in private health coverage used at least one of the Affordable Care Act’s no-cost preventive services in 2018 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, about 100 million people receive preventive services with no patient cost sharing in a typical year.
The two political parties cannot seem to agree on many things these days, but members of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday agreed on a common enemy: Pharmacy benefit managers. This was the second committee hearing in two months to discuss PBM business practices. In February, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Pharmacy ...
Hospitals routinely charge less to patients who pay in cash and seek to recoup the difference from commercially insured patients in markets where they can exert leverage, according to a new Johns Hopkins study published in Health Affairs. Why it matters: The analysis for 70 services — drawn from data reported by 2,379 hospitals as of September 2022 ...
Prior authorization has been a continual source of frustration for providers, and Wednesday UnitedHealthcare, the country’s largest insurer, said it will offer some relief. The payer giant will cut nearly 20% of its current prior authorizations, according to a new release, in a bid to simplify the process for both providers and its members. UnitedHealth will ...
The U.S. Social Security system’s main trust fund’s reserves will be depleted in 2033, one year earlier than estimated last year, while Medicare’s finances have improved slightly, reports from the programs’ trustees showed on Friday. The Medicare Hospital Trust Fund reserves are now expected to be depleted in 2031 compared to an estimate of 2028 ...
The IRS has announced the 2024 employer mandate penalties under the Affordable Care Act for employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees. Under the ACA, employers may be subject to an employer mandate penalty for (1) failing to offer minimum essential coverage to 95% of full-time employees (A Penalty) or (2) offering coverage that is not affordable (B Penalty).
According to Statista, nearly half of Californians (48.1% in 2021) get their health insurance through their job. The percentage in Nevada is slightly less – at 45.9%. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found in its 24th Employer Health Benefits Survey (EHBS) in 2022 that the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance was $7,911 for single coverage and $22,463 for family coverage.
CAA 2022 Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) Requirements For Health Plans – Due June 1st, 2023
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) Rx Data Collection (RxDC) component requires health plans/issuers to produce and file reports on prescription drug and health care spending for the 2022 calendar year by 6/1/2023. These reports are due annually and will be due by June 1st each year thereafter.
The Biden administration’s decision to end the covid-19 public health emergency in May will institute sweeping changes across the health care system that go far beyond many people having to pay more for covid tests. In response to the pandemic, the federal government in 2020 suspended many of its rules on how care is delivered. That transformed ...