News Briefs
✦ Humana Inc. announced a deal with IBM Corp. that will offer the insurer’s commercial group members an online chat virtual assistant based on IBM’s Watson Health conversational artificial intelligence softwar...
Rebate Rule Is Delayed, Likely to Be Repealed by Congress
The Biden administration will suspend implementation until 2023 of the so-called “rebate rule,” a Trump administration regulation that would have revamped the Medicare prescription drug rebate system. D.C. insid...
With New Order, Biden Alludes to Array of ACA Rule Changes
Late last month, President Joe Biden issued an executive order (EO) that made headlines chiefly because it reopened the federal health insurance exchange and signaled that the end is near for controversial Trump-era...
MCO Stock Performance, January 2021
Click here for a pdf of the full issue...
Cigna, Humana See COVID Costs Creep Up in Fourth Quarter
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has had a largely positive impact on health insurers’ bottom lines — given the sheer magnitude of deferred routine and elective care — two publicly traded payers’ recent fourth...
Nearly 9 Million People Could Benefit From Broadened ACA Enrollment Period
by Jinghong Chen
President Joe Biden on Jan. 28 signed an executive order to reopen the federal health exchange from Feb.15 through May 15. During that special enrollment period, 4 million uninsured people will b...
News Briefs
✦ UnitedHealth Group will make Optum CEO Andrew Witty its next CEO, succeeding retiring CEO David Wichmann, who has held the top job since 2017. Witty has run UnitedHealth’s PBM, hospital, finance and data analy...
Experts Call on Congress To Boost Medicaid Funding
Democratic majorities in Congress and the Biden administration can move quickly to bolster Medicaid and expand enrollment in the safety net program, according to a Feb. 3 expert panel convened by the Brookings Insti...
Executive Order Aims to Boost ACA Exchanges, Medicaid
President Joe Biden on Jan. 28 launched his Affordable Care Act-centric health insurance agenda with an executive order that will reopen the federal health exchange for a special enrollment period. The administratio...
2021 Outlook: Employer Groups Want Legislation on Drug Pricing, Telehealth
Trade groups representing employer health plan sponsors have a busy lobbying agenda for 2021 now that Democrats control the presidency and both chambers of Congress. The trade groups, the ERISA Industry Committee (E...