The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it dropped a rule that limited competition among its member insurers, moving to implement a key aspect of an antitrust settlement the companies reached last year with customers. The settlement hasn’t won final approval from the federal judge presiding over the litigation, so it isn’t being fully implemented. ...
California could become the only state to let adult children add their parents as dependents to their health insurance plans, a policy proposal aimed at increasing insurance coverage among low-income people living in the country illegally who aren’t eligible for government-funded coverage. Former President Barack Obama’s health law let parents keep their adult children on ...
Small businesses are gaining more revenue this year despite the lingering challenges from COVID-19 and reversing last year’s losses, according to a report from Intuit’s QuickBooks unit. The report examined how small and midsized businesses performed financially in different industries and geographies from March 2020 to March 2021, analyzing anonymized revenue data drawn from approximately ...
Kaiser Permanente is exploring the use of artificial intelligence to cull through doctors’ medical reports and help identify patients with aortic stenosis, a common heart valve disease, and other chronic health conditions. As part of ongoing research into the predictors of valvular heart disease, researchers looked at whether they could train AI software to spot ...
CMS on Friday significantly changed how Affordable Care Act exchanges will run next year, intending to lower out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare customers, streamline enrollees’ user experience and update how insurers are paid for the risks they take on their members. In its second update to the annual benefit and payment parameters rule, the agency announced ...
Health insurers remained profitable across markets in 2020 because of an unprecedented decrease in health spending and utilization caused by the pandemic. Hospitals, physicians and other health care providers canceled elective procedures to free up beds, staff and supplies early in the pandemic and to limit unnecessary exposure and risk of infection. Patients also ...