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.
Gov. Jerry Brown opted not to include major long-term investments in public health insurance programs in his budget revision on Friday, citing a preference for one-time spending measures.
A new research letter reports that doctors who received free meals and other kinds of payments from pharmaceutical companies tended to prescribe more opioid painkillers to their patients over the course of a year. Meanwhile, doctors who didn't get such freebies cut back on their opioid prescriptions.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, has said he’s abandoning efforts to push a bipartisan bill meant to stabilize the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges, putting the blame on Democrats’ resistance to making changes to the law.
Some Republican lawmakers continue to try to work around the federal health law’s requirements. That strategy can crop up in surprising places. Like the farm bill.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the administration is working on a plan to tackle high drug prices that would go “much further” than the proposals in President Trump’s budget.
Finance execs at the big payers all say the Medicare Advantage market will only get bigger, and more lucrative.
Health insurers are seeking lofty rate hikes for 2019 individual coverage as they grapple with new obstacles in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, including the zeroed-out mandate penalty and the potential influx of skimpy insurance policies.
The head of Nevada's health insurance exchange is "deeply concerned" about a proposed federal rule change that would extend the length of short-term health plans, saying in a Friday letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the policy will likely result in higher premiums for people who purchase insurance on the exchange.
Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare all reported positive financial results this quarter and executives cited the same reason: swelling numbers of Medicare Advantage enrollees, otherwise known as the Silver Tsunami.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the administration is working on a plan to tackle high drug prices that would go “much further” than the proposals in President Trump’s budget.