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.
Effective July 1, 2025, Optum Rx is removing reauthorization for more than 60 drugs that treat chronic conditions. The newly added medications include treatments for seven chronic conditions, such as behavioral health, HIV, dry eye disease, high cholesterol and hypertension. “Chronic conditions affect about 60% of Americans and are the leading cause of death in ...
The Supreme Court upheld a key preventive services task force in a 6-3 ruling issued Friday morning. The high court determined that members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which makes recommendations for coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act, are selected within the bounds of the Constitution. In the case, Braidwood Management, an ...
In 2025, nearly 4 in 10 people said they worried about being able to afford their medications, up significantly from 27% in 2024.
US health officials met with with Walmart Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers this week as part of an effort to help Americans get their medicines more directly from companies that make them, according to people familiar with the talks. The conversations between the Trump administration and experts from the nascent straight-to-consumer drug industry are ...
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has rejected key Medicaid provisions in the Senate GOP megabill, a ruling that appears to strike a major blow to Republicans’ strategy for cutting federal spending. The Senate’s referee rejected a plan to cap states’ use of health care provider taxes to collect more federal Medicaid funding, a proposal that would have generated ...
Senate committees have released their portions of a Republican megabill that could have major implications for Nevada, offering tweaks that are somewhat more favorable to the state on issues but harsher on Medicaid and no tax on tips.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy and 23 other House Republicans are urging Senate Republicans to put a slew of provisions related to health savings accounts back in the GOP’s megabill.
The number of people using HealthCare.gov and other Affordable Care Act public exchange programs to get health coverage will fall 40% in 2026, but the programs will still serve 15.4 million people.
CMS projects national health expenditures to increase by 5.8% from 2024 to 2033, reaching $8.6 trillion by the end of the period as the last of the Baby Boomers age into Medicare.
Republican efforts to restrict taxes on hospitals, health plans, and other providers that states use to help fund their Medicaid programs could strip them of tens of billions of dollars. The move could shrink access to health care for some of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable people, warn analysts, patient advocates, and Democratic political ...