Blue Shield of California announced Thursday that it plans to expand its Virtual Blue program, doubling program enrollment for members. Beginning in January 2027, the benefit will be included in fully insured preferred provider organization (PPO) plans for employers with 101 to 3,000 employees, as well as for certain individual and family plans, the insurer ...
Self-funded employers are facing the brunt of costs associated with the No Surprises Act (NSA) arbitration process, a new report from the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) found. The report (PDF)—entitled Employer Exposure Under the No Surprises Act—was in part informed by confidential interviews with larger self-funded employer plan sponsors. Employer-sponsored insurance covers approximately 154 million ...
As employers enter the next health plan renewal cycle, they might not be as prepared as they think. According to a new survey of 124 health benefits brokers and advisors, some of the most important questions they should be asking could go unasked. The 2026 Phia Group Broker Survey Results & Analysis found a disconnect ...
President Donald Trump announced Friday that all 50 states will join in on a program set to provide Most Favored Nation pricing to some drugs within the Medicaid program, bringing the net price of selected drugs down to prices paid in certain other countries. The Trump administration claims that Medicaid will save billions on prescription ...
One thing was true for most employees in previous generations – although their job may not always have paid well, it did pay every two weeks. Far more Americans today work as contractors, freelancers and gig or temporary workers, or are self-employed, run small businesses or have multiple part-time jobs. Along with making their income ...
Not even the most effective medication will achieve the desired results if its high cost prevents patients from taking it. Nearly all physicians (96%) report that patients stopped taking a medication because of cost without telling them, the 2026 Physician Drug Cost survey from RazorMetrics found. Almost the same percentage said they would be comfortable ...