Pandemic Could Drive Durable Trends in Home Care, Telehealth
The ongoing pandemic has forced the health care system to quickly reorganize care delivery, as payers and providers have worked together to keep low-acuity patients away from hospitals overwhelmed by severe COVID-19...
UnitedHealth Maintains Outlook, Braces for COVID-19 Impact
UnitedHealth Group didn’t see much of an earnings impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, but the effects will crystallize in future quarters. Such was the overarching message of the compan...
Biden Proposal to Lower Medicare Eligibility to 60 Could Benefit MA Insurers
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the de facto Democratic nominee for president, said on April 9 that he will work to lower the eligibility age for Medicare to 60 if elected. In a blog post laying out his plans to ta...
COVID-19 Treatment, Testing Costs Could Reach $417 Billion Over Next Year
With the novel coronavirus spreading across the nation, both private health insurers and public payers could see heavy economic costs. According to a recent paper prepared by Wakely Consulting Group on behalf of Ame...
News Briefs
✦ Covered California, the state’s individual insurance exchange, said 58,400 people had enrolled in plans during its COVID-19-related special enrollment window in the three weeks following March 20. Covered Cali...
News Briefs
✦ Insurance companies that sustain heavy losses during the COVID-19 pandemic can access tax relief through the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, building on policies establ...
Beleaguered Hospitals Seek Advance Payment From Insurers
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a Wakely study of COVID-19-related risk to insurers only examined the risk to commercial carriers. While the study did not estimate risk to traditional Medica...
HCSC Coverage Is a Win for New-Gen Cardiac Telemetry Device
Ten years after the launch of a mobile outpatient cardiac telemetry device from medtech company BioTelemetry, Inc., insurer Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC) has included it in its medical coverage policy. Pennsylvan...
Insurers, Lawmakers Continue Calls for HealthCare.gov SEP
Facing mounting criticism for deciding not to allow a special enrollment period (SEP) on the federal health insurance exchange amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Trump administration offered up a different strategy to he...
MCO Stock Performance, March 2020
Click here for a pdf of the full issue...