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 law created to stop patients from receiving surprise bills may be leading to higher costs for those same people. The No Surprises Act was implemented in 2022 to protect people with employer-sponsored health plans from many types of costly out-of-network billing disputes. The law has delivered on that promise but its baseball-style arbitration system ...
As Americans grow increasingly frustrated with their healthcare system, a proposal that has long been kicked around on the Democratic periphery is showing up in debates and on political platforms: “Medicare for All.” According to a 2025 Economist-YouGov poll, nearly 60% of Americans favor a system of Medicare for All, while 85% of Democrats support ...
Pharma companies are influencing doctors to prescribe pricey drugs by wooing them with money and gifts, a new evidence review has concluded. Payments and gifts from the pharmaceutical industry also increase the quantity of drugs doctors prescribe, the Cochrane Library review found. Doctors also are more likely to prescribe drugs inappropriately if they’ve received money ...
In June, lawmakers passed a healthcare tax that could increase premiums in order to combat federal Medicaid cuts. The California Medical Association and California Association of Health Plans say in a new lawsuit that the tax violates Proposition 35, passed by voters in 2024.
Contrary to popular opinion, ICHRAs are not the cavalry coming to solve your company’s health care problems. SureCo recently released its State of ICHRA Report for 2026, marking the first time ICHRA implementation crossed from an early experiment to a mainstream benefits strategy. While ICHRAs might look like a viable short-term option for some companies ...
Every fall, employers that offer prescription drug coverage have an important Medicare Part D responsibility. They must tell Medicare-eligible employees and dependents whether their current employer-sponsored drug coverage is “creditable” or “non-creditable.” The annual notice must be provided before October 15, when Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period begins. For 2026, that means employers should distribute their ...
Herman spoke with more than 20 health policy experts, industry executives, and benefits professionals, analyzed federal and industry data, and read more than a dozen research articles for this story, part of STAT’s Out of Pocket, Out of Reach series. Workers and employers are drowning in their health insurance premiums. The reason for that deluge: ...
The Federal Trade Commission has sent warning letters to 24 “of the nation’s largest healthcare services” regarding their compliance with hospital price transparency requirements, the regulator announced Monday during a press event highlighting new regulations finalized by the Trump administration. The letters, templates for which were made public (PDF), told hospitals they may be running ...
The Trump administration on Monday finalized a rule that aims to make the data files mandated under price transparency regulations more usable. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that the final rule will improve the data files made available by payers and providers by reducing duplicative information, adding further context about in-network pricing ...
Americans who fill prescriptions through Canadian and other international mail-order pharmacies have about three weeks before a federal customs rule reaches its compliance deadline on October 22, and a growing number of members of Congress are urging the Trump administration to reconsider it. The rule, issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), does not ...