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.
Each year, the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP) gathers in Washington, D.C., for its Capitol Conference, bringing together hundreds of agents, benefits specialists, and industry leaders to engage directly with federal policymakers. The event serves as a coordinated advocacy effort, where NABIP members from across the country deliver a unified message to ...
Republicans in Congress are trying to attract more people to direct-to-consumer drug purchases on platforms like TrumpRx by requiring insurers to count that spending toward patients’ deductibles and out-of-pocket limits. Why it matters: Paying cash for drugs has limited appeal for insured patients, in part because it doesn’t help them get to the point where insurance picks up a bigger ...
The Iran war is highlighting the fragile nature of global drug supply chains as disruptions ripple far beyond the Persian Gulf. Why it matters: Even if the ceasefire holds, disruptions to air cargo and the Strait of Hormuz bring the threat of higher prices for generic drugs and spot shortages, especially in developing countries. The conflict ...
UnitedHealthcare has unveiled a new generative AI companion called Avery that learns from member interactions. Avery goes beyond being a general AI chatbot as it’s an agentic, HIPAA-compliant tool integrated into health insurance workflows. It can provide a self-serve personalized experience based on the individual’s specific benefits, UnitedHealthcare said. Avery is live for approximately 6.5 million ...
For more than a year, the biopharma industry has had to swiftly react to various tariff threats from the Trump administration. Now, a Thursday announcement from the White House puts the U.S. tariff situation into much clearer focus. The president has rolled out a 100% tariff rate on patented pharmaceutical products and ingredients under Section 232 of ...
A new Gallup poll shows healthcare has returned as the leading domestic concern among Americans, with 61% reporting they worry “a great deal” about access and affordability. The finding places healthcare ahead of 15 other policy areas and marks a shift from recent years when economic issues dominated. Following healthcare, four economic concerns rank closely together, each ...
Two more drug-making giants will officially start selling popular commercial medications on the White House’s discounted pharmaceutical site as soon as Monday, CBS News exclusively learned. American pharmaceutical companies Abbvie and Genentech become the 10th and 11th companies to provide their prescriptions at a reduced rate on the “TrumpRx” site. Abbvie, which struck a deal ...
The Trump administration’s bid to rewrite how catastrophic plans are structured under the Affordable Care Act is raising legal and actuarial questions, even as some policy professionals applaud the creativity aimed at solving rising premiums. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposed rule earlier this year that would allow catastrophic plans to design terms ...
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association submitted a wide-ranging letter to CMS on March 30 in response to the agency’s information request on its Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare, or CRUSH, initiative. Seven BCBSA recommendations: 1. CMS should notify Medicare Advantage plans in real time when it suspends payments to a provider over suspected ...
Following significant industry outcry over a proposal to keep Medicare Advantage rates largely flat in 2027, the Trump administration has bumped payments up slightly in the final policy. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services initially proposed a 0.09% increase in rates as part of the MA and Part D Advance Notice. In the final rule, the increase ...