Jeff Lagasse

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Cigna to sell Medicare business to HCSC in $3.7 billion deal

Health company Cigna has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Medicare Advantage, Supplemental Benefits, Medicare Part D and CareAllies businesses to Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) for about $3.7 billion.

FDA ending emergency use authorization for Paxlovid

The Food and Drug Administration has set March 8 as the end of its emergency use authorization (EUA) for Paxlovid for adult patients, the agency has said this week. The medication is given to those considered high risk for progression to severe COVID-1…

Humana’s CenterWell eyes continued expansion

Humana’s CenterWell Senior Primary Care will continue expanding this year, with plans to open centers in three new locations: Asheville, North Carolina, and Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana.
It will also add new centers in the existing markets of…

Medical Mutual set to acquire ProMedica insurance subsidiary

Cleveland-based Medical Mutual has announced its intent to purchase Paramount Health, a Northwest Ohio-based health insurance company owned by ProMedica.
Paramount, which offers Medicare Advantage, Individual ACA, commercial group and short-term insura…

HHS, DOJ letter urges Medicaid administrators to cover Hepatitis C, SUD medications

The U.S.

Blue Shield California offering pathway to GEDs

In a partnership with GED Testing Service, which administers the official GED test, Blue Shield of California Promise Health plan is offering to pay for Medicaid enrollees who wish to become high school graduates through the General Education Diploma, …

$50 million in CMS grants to go to healthcare access for school children

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will be doling out $50 million in grants for states to connect millions more children to healthcare services, particularly for mental health, at s…

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts postpones anesthesia policy

On January 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts implemented a policy that would have limited coverage of monitored anesthesia care for certain patients receiving colonoscopies and other endoscopic procedures. But due in part to pushback from the …

Humana posts $541 million loss in Q4, blames high Medicare Advantage costs

Despite logging $26.6 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, insurer Humana posted a $541 million overall loss, pinning much of the blame on a higher-than-anticipated increase in Medicare Advantage costs. 

Optum Perks eyeing Rx costs with telehealth solution

Prescription provider Optum Perks is launching a new telehealth solution offering low-cost care and prescription treatments for hundreds of conditions ranging from acne to a cough to high blood pressure.
The offering is meant to address the cost burden…