The Medicare premium for premium will rise nearly seven percent in 2020, from $135.50 in 2019 to $144.60 next year, while the premium for Part A will rise almost five percent from $437.00 to $458.00 a...
As Medicaid programs look to provide costly gene therapies, specialty drugs, and other potentially life-saving medications to beneficiaries, states are getting creative by implementing alternative...
Humana recently expanded its value-based payment models by signing four more agreements with providers for bundled payment models for spinal fusion surgeries.
The payer also announced the growth of...
Precision medicine has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes and save members and their payers, so Aetna is overcoming the major challenges associated with implementing the...
PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) predicted a six percent increase in medical cost trend in 2020, with a five percent net growth rate after adjusting for increased employee cost sharing or...
CMS recently approved Washington state’s value-based purchasing proposal to lower drug prices for Medicaid.
The approval will allow the state to implement a “subscription” model for...
Cambia Health Solutions and Blue Cross of North Carolina have announced a new strategic affiliation that will combine management operations into a single entity retaining the Cambia name.
The two...
The Health Care Transformation Task Force recently released a new set of guiding principles to help healthcare industry leaders and policymakers better integrate consumer needs into benefit...
Employer-sponsored Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment for plan year 2019 increased by 12 percent, representing a bump of more than 443,000 individual members, according to a new analysis by Mark Farrah...
Commercial and managed care payers experienced significant third quarter profits, reductions in healthcare spending, and enrollment growth, according to the latest financial statements from insurance...
BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona’s (BCBSAZ) shared savings program has reduced 30-day hospital readmission rates by 26.3 percent while generating shared savings for providers..
BCBSAZ also...
Consumer demand for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) is expected to decline in 2019 as more beneficiaries look for health plans with customized benefits instead, according to a new survey from...
Integrating pharmacy benefits with medical benefits can help to improve overall health and reduce employer costs, according to a new study released by Cigna.
Individuals with connected medical,...
Sixty percent of employers don’t capitalize on opportunities to address healthcare spending waste, even though they say wasteful spending is a key concern, according to a new survey from the...
Several Medicare Advantage (MA) plans entering the market for the 2019 plan year are backed by millions in venture capital funding and are planning to compete with established payers by promoting new...
Medicare Advantage (MA) payer competition is increasing significantly for plan year 2019 as more than 400 new options hit an already-crowded market, says a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation...
Health plan members with critical illnesses face high treatment costs and other financial issues even with comprehensive health insurance, said a new survey conducted by the Harvard T. Chan School of...
The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) may not fully cover provider costs needed to administer classes and other programs to prevent diabetes among Medicare members, says a new report from the...
CMS has announced that Medicare Part A and Part B premiums and deductibles are expected to increase slightly for the 2019 plan year.
Part B members will see small increases in both their premiums and...
CMS has released its 2019 star ratings for Medicare Advantage (MA) health plans, noting that the Medicare Advantage market continues to grow in affordability and access for consumers.
CMS estimates...
