In recent years, a handful of insurers have left the Medicare Advantage market, and others have scaled back. Medical costs and federal cost-containment efforts have affected MA’s financial viability, and ongoing tensions around how star ratings are calculated — and,…

Health plans and providers have long operated in tension, but a growing chorus of payer and health system leaders believe the adversarial model is no longer sustainable — financially, clinically, or for the patients caught in the middle. Becker’s asked…

Total medical costs for fully insured individuals rose 9% per person in 2025, an average increase of $722, according to a July analysis from UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Care Research. The estimates are based on 2024 and 2025 UnitedHealthcare…

Cigna pulled back GLP-1 weight-loss coverage for its own employees July 1. Now it says its clients have been doing the same. On a July 30 earnings call, Cigna President and CEO Brian Evanko said Evernorth Health Services has seen…

UnitedHealth Group is now the fourth-largest company in the world by revenue, according to the 2026 Fortune Global 500. The list ranks the world’s largest public and private companies by revenue for the 2025 fiscal year. UnitedHealth posted more than…

The No Surprises Act, passed in 2020 and implemented in 2022, was designed to protect patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills. It also established the federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process, allowing out-of-network providers and health plans to resolve payment…

A federal judge on July 29 denied a request from 25 states and Washington, D.C., to temporarily block parts of the Trump administration’s Medicaid work requirement rule. Six things to know: 1. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns denied the states’…

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun directed the state to partake in CMS’ “Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth” model for GLP-1 access in Medicaid. According to a July 30 Indiana news release, under the pilot, GLP-1s will cost…

Another health insurance CEO is taking aim at the No Surprises Act’s arbitration system. “We do support the overall strategic intent of consumer protection from surprise billing. However, we’re seeing some clear abuses of the IDR vehicle in practice,” Cigna…

Humana expects Medicare Advantage plan exits next year to affect around 600,000 members as the insurer continues to focus on margin recovery. “We will work to recapture a significant portion of that volume as we did in 2025,” CFO Celeste…