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 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is making it easier for Medicare Advantage insurers to swoop in and rescue struggling rivals. The agency last week notified insurance companies that it may allow them to expand where they sell policies midyear if they acquire competitors. Previously, CMS only considered expansion requests during the annual bid ...
A long-running lawsuit challenging what it means to be an employee and therefore have access to work-based health plans is being closely watched. Its outcome could spur the availability of lower-cost but potentially skimpier health coverage that skirts some consumer protections.
SCAN Health Plan is partnering with retail giant Walmart to launch a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in two states, the companies announced Wednesday. SCAN and Walmart will connect co-branded Medicare Advantage offerings “more closely” with Walmart’s health and wellness products and services and its technology capabilities. Pending regulatory review and approvals, the companies say offerings ...
CVS Health’s (CVS.N), opens new tab Aetna health insurance unit will cut back next year on the preapprovals it requires for treatment for cancer patients to only one medical prior authorization process early on, the company said on Thursday. Providers will get the insurer’s go-ahead for care by submitting documentation showing a patient is receiving ...
Surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier, seeking to be confirmed as the nation’s top health educator and spokesperson, on Wednesday declined to fully distance herself from the Trump administration’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule when pressed by a prominent Republican. During a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, outgoing Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., ...
Health Net has released FAQs to help brokers and members navigate its exit from the California Small Group and Large Group medical markets. These resources provide information directly from Health Net regarding the transition, including important details and guidance for affected groups. View Health Net Broker FAQs View Health Net Member FAQs We encourage brokers ...
Executives from UnitedHealth Group spoke Thursday in Boston at a conference for health care investors, and frustration with the No Surprises Act independent dispute resolution system was the hot group health topic. Wayne DeVeydt, UnitedHealth’s chief financial officer, spent a lot of time talking about Medicare plans and state Medicaid plans. He then talked briefly about the costs ...
Employer and consumer organizations are urging lawmakers to address “loopholes” in the No Surprises Act. In a letter (PDF) submitted to House and Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle, nearly 70 groups representing employers, patients and labor unions argue that while the law has successfully averted millions of surprise medical bills, flaws in ...
The expanding role of artificial intelligence in medical care in the United States has raised concerns, even as the Trump administration said it is taking a "responsible, evidence-based approach" that maintains safeguards for patients.
A growing number of states are implementing healthcare cost controls to curb excess spending among providers and payers. Several states have established programs for annual cost growth benchmarks, setting spending limits based on economic measures such as gross state product, wage growth or median household income. However, some regulators are taking this tactic a step ...