Category: Insurers

Pandemic Delays Federal Probe Into Medicare Advantage Health Plans

Government officials want to focus on fighting COVID-19 instead of recouping overcharges that run into the millions.

Dispatch From A Country Doctor: Seeing Patients Differently In The Time Of Coronavirus

Emergency rule changes by the federal government and some insurers have made telemedicine a useful tool.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

Trump Wrongly Said Health Insurers Will Pay For All Coronavirus Treatment

There are important distinctions between how insurance companies will cover the test and the treatment. This makes the president’s statement an exaggeration, at best.

Insurers Sank Connecticut’s ‘Public Option.’ Would A National Version Survive?

Even in a solidly blue state where voters were demanding relief from high health care costs, the idea of a government-run public option for health insurance faced a “steam train of opposition.”

U.S. Medical Panel Thinks Twice About Pushing Cognitive Screening For Dementia

Because seniors are at higher risk of cognitive impairment, proponents say screening asymptomatic older adults is an important strategy to identify people who may be developing dementia and to improve their care. But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force cited insufficient evidence the tests are helpful.

Needy Patients ‘Caught In The Middle’ As Insurance Titan Drops Doctors

UnitedHealthcare is dropping hundreds of physicians from its New Jersey Medicaid network, separating patients from longtime doctors. Physicians charge the insurer is using its market power to shift business to practices it controls.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

Analysis: Who Profits From Steep Medical Bills? The People Tasked With Fixing Them.

Surprise bills are just the latest weapons in a decades-long war among health care industry players over who gets to keep the fortunes generated each year from patient illness: $3.6 trillion in 2018. The practice is an outrage, yet no one in the health care sector wants to unilaterally make the type of big concessions that would change things.