BOSTON — President Obama rallied union workers here Monday, unveiling a new executive order that will require federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave, a move he sought to contrast with Republican economic policies. Obama announced the new directive, which the White House said could benefit more than 300,000 ...

On Tuesday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS announced a new pilot program that will allow Medicare Advantage insurers to lower beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs as a way to encourage them to use high-quality services and potentially reduce overall costs in the long term, Modern Healthcare reports. The five-year program begins Jan. 1, ...

A new test within the Medicare Advantage program will lower out-of-pocket costs for chronically ill patients who seek high-value services and providers. Supporters hope the project will lead to changes in federal law and become a template for all health plans with sizable cost-sharing, which have become the standard offering from employers and insurers. But ...

California legislators passed a bill postponing a controversial plan that would have shifted tens of thousands of medically fragile children into Medi-Cal managed care plans. The bill, AB 187, passed both houses Thursday and will be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. At issue was the fate of the California Children’s Services program, ...

California’s largest health plan group this week declared its opposition to both of the healthcare special session bills that would impose new taxes on managed-care organizations, the latest sign that a replacement for a soon-to-expire health plan tax is unlikely to emerge before lawmakers adjourn next week. Health plan taxation is the focus of the ...

WASHINGTON — Doctors and hospitals are stepping up their criticism of proposed health insurance company mergers. In a new study to be released on Tuesday, the American Medical Association says that most insurance markets in the United States are dominated by a few companies and would become even more concentrated with a plan by Anthem ...