Just nine weeks after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on a weekday morning on a busy street, the luminaries of the health care and public opinion industries made a brave return to Midtown Manhattan. Just seven blocks over and five blocks up from where the shell casings hit the sidewalk, they gathered for gaiety in a glitzy ballroom. The occasion was the 2025 PRWeek Healthcare Awards, a celebration of the sector that crafts the public's perception of pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, health care insurers and care providers—through advertising, lobbying, corporate outreach, and so much more. Cocktail attire, please.
Florida insurance regulators have asked companies to hand over extensive amounts of data on people's pharmacy claims, including personal information and prescription drug usage, an unusual move for a state regulator that's raising privacy concerns. An eight-page request went out in recent weeks to pharmacy benefit managers seeking detailed information on pharmacy contracts, claims and payments. Pharmacy benefit managers operate the prescription drug benefits part of insurance plans.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday released a policy prohibiting public comments during his department's rulemaking process, ending more than 50 years of the public's involvement in crafting his department's rules. In the policy statement placed in the Federal Register, Kennedy's office argued that rescinding the policy goes back to the original intent of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The number of people enrolled in a private Medicare Advantage plan grew just 3.1% from 2024 to 2025 — well below projections from the federal government and Wall Street, and one of the slowest years of growth ever in the program.
Following complaints from constituents, a New York congressman is launching an examination of UnitedHealth Group's management of large physician groups in the state's Hudson Valley region. The inquiry by Congressman Patrick Ryan (D-N.Y.) seeks to gather information from community members about the quality and accessibility of healthcare services since UnitedHealth Group's Optum subsidiary purchased CareMount Medical and Crystal Run Healthcare in 2022 and 2023.
House Republicans passed a budget bill Tuesday that is the first step toward extending Trump's tax cuts and reducing spending on Medicaid. But Republicans nearly failed, and the two hours of messiness that led to its passage is an early sign of how difficult it will be to enact President Trump's agenda. Republican leadership initially cancelled the vote on the budget resolution after more than an hour of trying to convince GOP holdouts to switch their votes. About 10 minutes later, leadership called for a second vote, and lawmakers schlepped back to the House floor to vote again. The bill passed 217 to 215 with Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky as the sole Republican no vote. Tie votes fail in the House, so one more Republican no vote would've sunk it. All Democrats voted against the bill.