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.
The Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee, Erica Schwartz, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, ending a nearly yearlong period without a Senate-confirmed director leading the agency. Schwartz was confirmed in a 51-44 vote, with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) joining Republicans in support. All other Democrats opposed the nomination. Despite a ...
Specialty drug trend remains high, although it decreased from 11.2% to 10.8% on a gross cost basis in Pharmacy Strategies Group’s 2026 State of Specialty Spend and Trend Report. Claim utilization is now the dominant driver of specialty drug trend as the percentage of members using specialty drugs rose to 5.5%. “For a decade, this report ...
The Trump administration credits its fraud control efforts for the disappearance of millions of people from Obamacare rolls rather than a sharp rise in premiums — a claim disputed by policy experts that glosses over the reality that many more Americans now find themselves without health insurance. Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans fell by ...
California voters will choose between two Democrats for insurance commissioner in November as the state faces growing wildfire risk, skyrocketing insurance prices and some insurers leaving the state. State Sen. Ben Allen and former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim are competing for the office. Allen, who was interviewed in fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades, an area he ...
The Trump administration is now scrutinizing the American Medical Association over the “influence” its medical billing codes have on healthcare nationwide. Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes are meant to “provide a uniform nomenclature for coding medical procedures and services,” according to the AMA. However, some Republicans have raised concerns about whether the AMA currently holds too much sway over the medical care ...
Familiar hospitals dominated the latest “Best Hospitals” rankings from U.S. News & World Report, which also rolled out several changes this year. There were a couple of newcomers to the 2026-2027 Honor Roll, which for 4 years now, has been ranked alphabetically instead of ordinally. Mayo Clinic–Florida in Jacksonville joined its counterparts in Minnesota and Arizona on the list, and UC ...
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, on Sunday told American parents that they should get their children vaccinated against measles, as the surge in infections has reached numbers not seen in the past 35 years. Kennedy, a leading vaccination skeptic who has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps ...
As care continues to move beyond the hospital, pharmacy has become an increasingly important enterprise capability that influences patient access, financial performance and long-term growth. This evolution is driven not only by drug acquisition costs but also by utilization growth, reimbursement complexity, payer-driven site-of-care restrictions, specialty pharmacy access and advanced therapies. “For health system leaders, ...
Vanessa Barahona received a call this past spring from Angelica at Kern Family Health Care in Bakersfield, California, telling her it was time to renew her coverage under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. Angelica helped Barahona, 41, schedule an appointment to complete her paperwork in person at Kern Family’s offices before she submitted it ...
Employer benefits are under more pressure and scrutiny than they have been in years. “Cost volatility, more complex workforce needs, tighter regulatory requirements and emerging technologies such as AI are pushing organizations beyond incremental adjustments toward more disciplined benefit management,” according to the latest Benefits Benchmarks report from Gallagher. The report focused on five key ...