DOJ questioned former UnitedHealth doctors as it investigates claims that the health insurance giant pushed staffers to make diagnoses that triggered higher Medicare payments, according to a report. The investigation, which dates back to at least last summer, concerns alleged efforts to encourage staffers to record certain diagnoses that trigger higher payments under Medicare Advantage, The Wall Street Journal reported. Investigators for the DOJ, FBI, and HHS have been asking for details on patient testing, procedures used to reach certain diagnoses and the process of sending nurses to patients' homes, according to former UnitedHealth employees.
Despite concerns circulating about the future of Baystate Franklin Medical Center after the passage of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cuts roughly $1.1 trillion in health care spending, Baystate Health's chief financial officer advises the Greenfield hospital is not at risk of closure.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Tuesday that she thinks Medicaid work requirements and automation will help offset President Trump's massive immigration crackdown, which has threatened migrant farmworkers. 'There are 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program, there are plenty of workers in America,' Rollins says.
President Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose up to 200% tariffs on pharmaceutical products imported into the U.S. 'very soon.' 'If they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country, the drugs and other things into the country, they’re going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%,' Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. Trump said any tariffs would not take effect immediately.
The problems Centene appears to be having managing the costs of low-income Americans covered by Medicaid and individual plans under the ACA could only be the beginning of what's to come for more health insurers. Centene last week pulled its financial forecast for the rest of this year after an outside firm's review of data that showed subscribers in its ACA plans are sicker and need more care than the company anticipated. In addition, Centene is also seeing higher cost trends in its Medicaid business — coverage for low-income Americans the insurer helps more than two dozen states manage. On Monday, Centene rival Molina Healthcare lowered its earnings guidance for the rest of the year in the face of cost pressures in all three of the government-subsidized health insurance programs it helps manage: Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and individual coverage under the ACA.
S&P Global Ratings said it's considering cutting Centene Corp.'s credit ratings to junk, citing the health insurer's suspending its 2025 profit outlook. Centene said last week that it was withdrawing its previous forecast for its earnings for the year, because insurance market trends were veering from its assumptions, particularly in the plans it offers under the ACA. Without that information, S&P has less confidence that the insurer will build the capital it needs quickly enough, the bond grader said in a statement on Monday.