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.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon signed a massive funding package that ends a brief government shutdown and provides full-year funding for the federal government through the end of the year. The House voted earlier in the day to pass the package by a vote of 217-214. As part of negotiations between Senate Democrats and ...
Talks to revive enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that expired at the end of last year appeared to be fizzling out Tuesday, with Democrats expressing little optimism about a proposal from Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) that he described as the “best and final” offer his party would make. Lawmakers had been negotiating over a proposal from Moreno that ...
The launch of TrumpRx, an online platform enabling consumers to purchase discounted prescription drugs directly from manufacturers, has been delayed. Although it was expected to go live in late January, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at a cabinet meeting last week that it instead “is going to be happening sometime, probably in the next ...
The Federal Trade Commission and Cigna’s Evernorth unit have officially reached a settlement that resolves allegations that the company’s pharmacy benefit manager artificially drove up prices for insulin. As part of the settlement, Evernorth’s Express Scripts has agreed to several key business changes that are designed to reduce insulin prices significantly, the FTC said in ...
Paying for health care has become Americans’ top financial worry after Congress failed last year to extend some Affordable Care Act subsidies, triggering premium spikes for millions, a new survey finds. Two-thirds of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about affording health care, outranking concerns about paying for groceries, utilities or housing costs, according to the ...
A four-day partial US government shutdown is now over after the House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday to a funding measure and President Trump signed it into law. “I’m thrilled to sign the consolidated appropriations act to immediately re-open the federal government,” Trump said in the Oval Office late Tuesday afternoon. The vote in ...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is making California the front line in the resistance to the Trump administration’s revamped health care policies under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in what experts see as a politically savvy move that previews what a “Balkanized” public health landscape could look like as states lose faith in federal agencies. ...
Utah has become the first state in the United States to allow artificial intelligence, instead of a doctor, to renew certain medical prescriptions. The programme is part of a new pilot initiative, which was rolled out last month in partnership with health-tech start-up Doctronic. It allows an AI system to handle prescription renewals for patients ...
A federal judge in New York on Friday dismissed the death-eligible counts from Luigi Mangione’s indictment, clearing the way for his federal trial to begin in October. “Tortured and strange” though she said her conclusion may be, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled stalking is not a crime of violence and, therefore, not a predicate ...
Health insurers are warning that flat Medicare Advantage rates, as proposed by the Trump administration late Monday, would likely force them to take a deep look at the benefits they offer. Chris Bond, spokesperson for AHIP, the key lobbying organization for the insurance industry, said in a statement that the organization and its members “welcome reforms ...