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.
Starting in July, some Medicare beneficiaries will be able to access GLP-1 medications by paying one flat fee per month. The temporary program is set to run for a year-and-a-half through the end of 2027. But with less than two weeks before its launch, questions remain over how it will operate. The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, described by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as ...
Telehealth utilization increased 10.1% across the U.S. from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the first three months of 2026, a new report from Fair Health found. Telehealth utilization, measured as a percentage of medical claim lines, increased from 5.01% of medical claim lines in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 5.51% in Q1 2026. The relative ...
Bill Curry, 65, raises cattle on the same land in rural Oklahoma once owned by his father and generations before him. Each quarter, for several years, he has made the 2½-hour drive to Oklahoma City for an epidural in his spine to treat his back pain. But this year, because of a new Medicare program, ...
Online portal messages sent to providers more than doubled between 2020 and 2025 as patients now have much more direct access to physicians. But there hasn’t been a corresponding drop-off in clinic visits as digital medicine is adding to clinicians’ workload rather than replacing in-person care, a new study finds. At least 12% of Americans ...
A cure for cancer could be on the horizon in the next decade, according to experts. During the WSJ Leadership Institute CEO Summit in London last week, Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato reflected on the pharmaceutical company’s projections on the future of cancer treatment. In the next 10 years, the goal is to “try ...
Twannetta Weaver felt like she made the responsible choice when she enrolled in a high-deductible health insurance plan through her employer, an option that avoided high premiums and allowed her to save for retirement. Then, in 2025, she slipped a disk in her back, requiring medication and physical therapy. Suddenly, the medical bills were so ...
For much of this year, progressive lawmakers, labor unions and advocacy groups have pushed Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature to shore up the state’s healthcare system against federal cuts by taxing corporations more. After all, proponents argued, Republicans in Washington, D.C. cut into healthcare programs for California’s most vulnerable residents to pay for ...
When Congress allowed covid-era subsidies for health insurance to expire, California used its own funds to offset the hike in Obamacare premium costs for residents with low incomes. But the reach has been limited. As Gov. Gavin Newsom negotiates his last budget with the legislature, the Democrat wants to offer financial help to more than ...
Health plans expect the cost of treating patients to climb in 2027, projecting the highest medical cost trend in nearly two decades with a 9% rise in commercial health costs, according to a new analysis from PwC. Payers are pointing the finger at several inflationary factors, including the increasing use of artificial intelligence tools by ...
Healthcare costs in the U.S. are growing faster than inflation, and the U.S. spends significantly more than other comparable nations on healthcare. And according to one healthcare executive, this is unsustainable. “The healthcare system is bankrupting and failing us. It requires systemic reform, and it’s not going to come from inside the industry,” said Paul Markovich, president ...