Insurers Push Back Against Growing Cost Of Cancer Treatments
Many are encouraging the use of less-costly regimens and paying the same for drugs, whether they’re given in hospital outpatient settings or doctors’ offices.
‘National Dialogue’ Urged On Cost Of New Hepatitis C Drug
The outcry continues over the $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug made by California-based Gilead Sciences. While the drug is a significant advance over older treatments for the viral liver disease, the price set by the company “represents an abuse of market power,” said John Rother, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, which […]
7 Things You Should Know About The Next Big Benefit Change
“Reference pricing” has the blessing of the Obama administration. What is it and how might it affect your health insurance?
IRS Urged To Broaden Preventive Coverage In High-Deductible Plans
High deductible health plans paired with tax-free savings accounts — increasingly common in job-based insurance and long a staple for those who buy their own coverage – pose financial difficulties for people with chronic health problems. That’s because they have to pay the annual deductible, which could be $1,250 or more, before most of their medications […]
Who Should Get Pricey Hepatitis C Drugs?
Is it right to ask patients with early stage liver disease to wait for treatments that could cure them?
VA, California Panels Urge Costly Hepatitis C Drugs For Sickest Patients
Expert panels suggest those with less serious liver disease wait for drugs in development.
Early Drug Claims Suggest Exchange Plan Enrollees Are Sicker Than Average
But experts say it’s too early to draw conclusions about the impact on premiums.
What Happens Next On The Health Law?
As the first open enrollment period draws to a close, here are seven things to watch for clues about what the health law’s future might hold.
Insurers May Get Cost Break Thanks To Rocky ACA Rollout
The Obama administration keeps changing the rules on implementing the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies keep complaining. But they’re unlikely to grouse about the latest adjustment. On Tuesday the Department of Health and Human Services signaled its intention to temporarily give insurers a break on the portion of premiums they must spend on medical care […]
Advocates Press For Insurance Subsidies For Domestic Abuse Victims
Even estranged spouses must generally file joint returns to get subsidies for health coverage, putting them at potential risk.
Employers See Negligible Increase In Workers Participating In Job-Based Coverage
Employers saw only a tiny increase in enrollment in their health insurance plans this year, even as key provisions of the health law — including a requirement that nearly all Americans carry coverage or face a fine — went into effect, a survey by benefit firm Mercer finds. Additionally, the percentage of workers eligible for job-based coverage rose only minimally, […]
Should Healthier Patients Be Asked To Wait To Use Costly Hepatitis C Drugs?
New treatments for hepatitis C that cost at least $66,000 to $84,000 may work better than older drugs, but their cost undermines their value to the health system, a panel of experts said during a daylong forum in San Francisco. “The price makes it very hard for the health care system,” said Steve Pearson, who […]
There’s a Life-Saving Hepatitis C Drug. But You May Not Be Able To Afford It.
The price tag of the breakthrough treatment raises questions about the proper costs of pharmaceuticals.
Could Medicaid Expansion Debate Turn Into An Immigration Issue?
Proponents of expanding Medicaid in Florida argue that a ‘no’ vote means that legal immigrants will have access to insurance subsidies while some U.S. citizens go without coverage.
40 Percent Of Enrollees Through eHealth Website Are Young Adults
Whether enough young people are signing up for insurance coverage under the health law remains a point of debate among its critics and supporters. Now both sides have some new data. Private online marketplace eHealth reported that the percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 34 who applied for coverage through the firm’s website […]
Questions And Answers On The Latest ACA Delay
The administration pressed the pause button on part of the health law again. Here’s what the new timeline for the employer mandate means for businesses, workers — and for politicians.
Some Middle-Class Families Find Price Of Subsidized Health Coverage ‘Awfully High’
For nearly 3 million Americans, subsidies don’t kick in until they’ve paid up to 9.5% of their income toward premiums.
Parsing The President’s 9 Million Enrollees
Nine million. That’s the number President Barack Obama touted last night as having signed up for health insurance. That total is important to supporters as a sign that the law is working — and as an indication of the difficulties Republicans would face to rescind the law or roll back certain provisions. Critics have pointed out […]
Report: Effort To Curb Health Costs Should Be ‘Led By The States’
Governors and other state leaders have the leverage to slow rising health costs and should not wait for action by the federal government, a commission chaired by two former governors said in a report Wednesday. State leaders can use their clout as large purchasers of health care as well as regulators to set goals for health […]
Former HHS Head Offers His Take On Health Law’s Problems
Former Health And Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says officials could learn from similar, albeit smaller, problems he and his staff had implementing the Medicare Prescription Drug Program in 2006, and that he doubts the Obama administration will meet its goals for enrollment in the health law’s insurance marketplaces.
