California schools and childcare facilities no longer have to require masks indoors after March 11, state officials announced Monday, although masks are still “highly recommended.” The announcement does not necessarily mean that all San Diego County students will be able to ditch masks immediately after that date, however. Schools can continue to require masks if ...

Last year, as expected, life insurers in the United States paid out a large number of Covid-19 death-benefit payouts. Surprisingly, many people saw an increase in other types of death claims as well. Many of the other fatalities, according to industry executives and actuaries, are linked to delays in medical care as a result of ...

Providers say they dodged a bullet when the Biden administration decided to redesign the Direct Contracting Model instead of eliminating it entirely as progressive lawmakers and groups demanded. However, it remains unclear whether the redesigned model set to launch next year will quell criticisms from progressives that the model will lead to the privatization of ...

Employers continue to grapple with the ripple effects of the pandemic as more than one-third of employees report long COVID symptoms that impact their ability to work, including higher rates of depression, anxiety and absenteeism. Among those employees who are still having long-term effects, 71% are experiencing greater levels of depression or anxiety and many ...

CVS Caremark kept overall drug trend for clients to 2.4% over the first three quarters of 2021, marking multiple years of single-digit trend in drug price growth. The pharmacy benefit management arm of CVS Health also kept its specialty drug trend to single digits through the third quarter, at an industry-low 5.8%, according to the ...

Those working in the healthcare sector saw smaller average wage increases during the first 15 months of the pandemic compared to workers across other industries, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Average wages in healthcare rose 5% from 2019 to 2020 while all industries’ average wages rose 6.7% during ...