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 & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a list of prescription drugs it hopes to include in its new Medicare $2 Drug List Model, the agency announced Wednesday. Designed to limit out-of-pocket costs, the plan caps a generic drug’s monthly price at $2. Drugs included in the list help tackle conditions like high ...
Amazon will more than double to 20 the number of cities where its customers can get same day delivery of their prescriptions by opening new pharmacies in these markets. The online retailer’s Amazon Pharmacy business said it will leverage its “vast logistics network and advanced automation technology to solve one of pharmacy’s biggest pain points: ...
About 165 million Americans get their health insurance through work, and yet most don’t spend much time considering what their employer is offering in the way of benefits and what it will cost. In fact, employees only spent about 45 minutes a year, on average, deciding which benefit options suit them best, a report from Aon found. Open enrollment ...
It’s that time of year again: In most states, the Affordable Care Act’s annual open enrollment season for health plans begins Nov. 1 and lasts through Jan. 15. Current enrollees who do not update their information or select an alternative will be automatically reenrolled in their current plan or, if that plan is no longer available, ...
A major California health insurer is set to offer one of the world’s top-selling drugs for free in a bid to show the medicine can reach Americans affordably without going through the middlemen that typically control its flow.
While hot-button health care issues such as abortion and the Affordable Care Act roil the presidential race, Democrats and Republicans in statehouses around the country have been quietly working together to tackle the nation’s medical debt crisis.
A proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released Oct. 4 would protect beneficiaries from shady broker behavior and modify the federal risk adjustment program, among other changes. Under the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters proposed rule (PDF) for the 2026 plan year, insurance agents could be held responsible for marketplace violations. ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out guidance Oct. 2 as stakeholders prep for the second round of the drug price negotiation program. Made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act, the federal government has praised the program, saying it drastically lowers the cost of lifesaving drugs. The negotiation period for the first ...
The healthcare industry is making the push toward greater adoption of value-based care, yet it’s not a secret that progress has been slow-moving. With that backdrop, UnitedHealth Group has released its latest “A Path Forward” report, which is a biennial look at progress in the shift to value. The paper includes dozens of policy recommendations ...
Proposed guidelines for operating Obamacare insurance exchanges in 2026 call for tightening protections against unauthorized actions by agents and brokers who help consumers enroll in coverage. The proposal, released Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sets standards for health insurers and ACA marketplaces, as well as requirements for agents, brokers, and others ...