Millions of Americans risk losing subsidies next year that help them pay for health insurance following President-elect Donald Trump's election win and Republicans' victory in the Senate. The subsidies — which expire at the end of 2025 — came out of the 2021 American Rescue Plan, and increased the amount of assistance available to people who want to buy health insurance through the ACA. If the subsidies aren't extended an estimated 4 million people will lose their coverage in 2026 because they won't be able to afford it.
Insurers focused on the Medicare market jumped on the expectation that the government will pay higher rates to companies that provide private versions of the U.S. health program for seniors. UnitedHealth Group Inc. shares rose as much as 6.6% when markets opened Wednesday in New York, while shares of Humana Inc. gained as much as 12%. CVS Health Corp. shares added as much as 14%, their biggest intraday gain in 24 years.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. systematically cut what it paid for ER visits and mental healthcare to doctors outside of its network, sparking internal tension over how those changes were handled and the potential effect on members, newly unsealed court documents show. The records open a window into the workings of its UnitedHealthcare unit, the largest U.S. health insurer, and shed light on a bitter battle between financial heavyweights in the $5 trillion U.S. medical system.
This week's oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a case involving billions in Medicare payments to hospitals revealed a split among the justices willing to show their cards. The case, Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Becerra, concerns Medicare DSH payments to safety net hospitals. The more than 200 hospitals who brought the case argue that HHS isn't paying them enough because it takes too narrow a view of which patients should be counted toward their payments.
About 1,600 patients covered by Medicare Advantage plans are expected to lose insurance coverage at MD Anderson Cancer Center by the end of this week, officials at the cancer hospital said Wednesday. The patients have been covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, which previously announced that its Medicare Advantage members would no longer receive 'in-network' access to the hospital as of Nov. 1. That means those patients could not receive care at heavily discounted rates. The number of impacted patients has not been previously reported.
Telehealth companies Hims & Hers Health Inc., Noom Inc. and Sesame Inc. have lured individual customers with low-cost versions of popular weight-loss shots like Ozempic and Wegovy. Now, they're going after employers, too, as the medications become an in-demand perk. After Noom began offering a compounded copy of Wegovy for $149 a month, CEO Geoff Cook says he was 'actually a little surprised' by the level of employer interest.