Last year, about a quarter of all health insurance claims were denied in California — a reality mirrored nationwide that has stoked public anger toward health care companies, and led to accusations that such decisions lack human empathy.

California no longer faces a budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, two months after budget officials projected a $2 billion deficit that had left little room for additional government spending.

Buried in the news from last month was an interesting nugget posted by Fierce Pharma: “Following a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks pointed to raising drug prices in other developed nations as a key strategy to reduce costs in the U.S.

Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 250 branded medications including Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMY.N), opens new tab cancer cell therapies and vaccines from France’s Sanofi (SASY.PA), opens new tab at the start of 2025, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Nearly all of the drug ...

Aetna is taking legal action against Pfizer, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceuticals and others, saying the list of drugmakers conspired to overcharge the insurer, consumers and the federal government for generic drugs. The complaint (PDF), filed Dec. 31, claims the drugmakers communicated secretly at trade conferences or through phone calls, beginning in 2012, to determine the market share, prices ...

The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday issued new regulations barring medical debts from American credit reports, enacting a major new consumer protection just days before President Joe Biden is set to leave office. The rules ban credit agencies from including medical debts on consumers’ credit reports and prohibit lenders from considering medical information ...