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 Trump administration has proposed flat rates in Medicare Advantage (MA) for 2027, and insurers argue in new commentary that those levels do not reflect the realities of the program. In late January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its annual proposed advance notice governing MA and Part D. The proposal includes ...
Cigna’s Evernorth has acquired CarepathRx just two years after making a significant investment in the company, a spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Healthcare. In June 2023, the company formed a strategic partnership with CarepathRx, a pharmacy that dispenses to hospitals and health systems. Alongside the partnership, which aimed to boost access to specialty care, Evernorth took a ...
Samantha Smith of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, went into the operating room for emergency removal of an ectopic pregnancy. “I’m grateful I didn’t die,” she said, but she was shocked to see that the outpatient surgery was billed to her insurer for about $100,000. Jamie Estrada of Albuquerque, New Mexico, twice received injections of lidocaine in his ...
Teladoc Health reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results with both revenue and earnings exceeding analysts’ expectations, driving a 15% jump in the company’s stock Thursday. But the telehealth giant continues to face headwinds as it works to shift from subscription to visit-based revenue models. Teladoc also is transitioning its virtual mental health business, BetterHelp, to accept ...
Ascendiun today announced the national launch of Worthy, a movement to rebuild the U.S. healthcare system so that it is affordable, transparent and truly worthy of every person it serves. The announcement follows a standing-room only launch event held earlier today in New York City, where Ascendiun president and CEO Paul Markovich was joined by ...
An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente health care workers will return to work on Tuesday after a four-week strike in California and Hawaii to demand better wages and staffing. The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said in a statement Monday that “significant movement at the bargaining table” prompted an ...
What Does Today’s Supreme Court Decision Striking Down Tariffs Mean For The Pharmaceutical Industry?
The Trump administration has other legal avenues to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals despite today’s Supreme Court decision striking down many of the administration’s current tariffs. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that President Donald Trump did not have the authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But ...
Year two of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as health secretary is already yielding some wins — but not for him and his Make America Healthy Again movement. Instead, the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries he’s long targeted are breathing a sigh of relief as the White House signals it’s reining in Kennedy’s attacks on their ...
Tamar Abrams had a lousy couple of years in 2022 and ’23. Both her parents died; a relationship ended; she retired from communications consulting. She moved from Arlington, Virginia, to Warren, Rhode Island, where she knew all of two people. “I was kind of a mess,” recalled Abrams, 69. Trying to cope, “I was eating ...
Subsidies. Love ’em or hate them, they dominated the news during the Affordable Care Act’s sign-up season, and their reduction is now hitting many enrollees in the pocketbook. While lawmakers continue to disagree on a way forward, and the politics of affordability keeps the issue front and center, it would be understandable to think these are the ...