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 projects average Medicare Advantage (MA) premiums will decline slightly for the 2026 plan year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Friday that the average monthly premium across all types of MA coverage is set to be $14, down from $16.40 in 2025. This includes MA plans with prescription drug coverage as ...
Pharmacy middlemen are working on a proposal to voluntarily change some of their business practices in an effort to avoid new regulation from the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the discussions. The main lobbying group that represents so-called pharmacy benefit managers, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, has drafted proposals to bring to the ...
The House passed a Republican-backed measure, largely along party lines, that would push the shutdown deadline to Nov. 21. But then the Senate rejected a Democrat-led proposal that would keep the government open through Oct. 31, as well as implement several Democratic priorities.
Word & Brown has released an upgrade to the Forms & Docs search tool on wordandbrown.com, giving brokers a faster, more intuitive way to find what they need. The updated tool scans the content of each PDF – not just file titles – delivering more complete and relevant search results. The upgrade is designed to ...
Every day for nearly 18 years, Alessandra Fabrello has been a medical caregiver for her son, on top of being his mom. “It is almost impossible to explain what it takes to keep a child alive who should be dead,” said Fabrello, whose son, Ysadore Maklakoff, experienced a rare brain condition called acute necrotizing encephalopathy ...
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health is rolling out new medical devices co-designed with Epic that connect directly to the EHR, a move the health system says will make it easier for patients to manage chronic conditions at home. The proprietary blood pressure cuff, scale and glucometer automatically transmit data to Epic’s MyChart app and into a patient’s health ...
Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted unanimously on Sep. 19 to recommend that people who want a COVID-19 vaccine must consult with a healthcare provider, a process called “shared clinical decision-making.” The advisory panel voted down an initial proposal to require a prescription for COVID vaccines. However, the meeting seemed ...
As the cost of health care in the United States rises to the highest point in more than two decades, companies are preparing for disruptive changes to their health care plans, according to a new survey by global advisory, broking, and solutions company WTW. WTW’s “2025 Best Practices in Healthcare Survey” finds that U.S. employers ...
Benefits executives at Gallagher expect the cost of stop-loss insurance to rise faster than the cost of fully insured group health coverage next year. William Ziebell, the chief executive officer of the insurance broker’s benefits and human resources consulting division, predicted Thursday that typical increases for stop-loss insurance will be somewhere in the mid-teens or higher. ...
The Northeast Valley Health Corp. in Los Angeles County could be a poster child for the benefits of sharing health data electronically. Through a data network connecting its records system with other providers, the health center receives not just X-ray and lab results but real-time alerts when hospitals on the network admit or discharge its ...