Payer

Seven insurers have pledged to cover navigation services for cancer and other serious illnesses. 

Medicare Part D plans have ramped up restrictions on prescription drugs since 2011, a study published in the March edition of Health Affairs found. 

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage startup plans grew 18% from 2023 to 2024, according to a March 5 analysis from Chartis. 

The Cigna Group has launched EncircleRx, a program aimed at helping employers control the cost of GLP-1 drugs for weight-loss. 

UnitedHealth Group detailed a timeline March 7 for restoring key Change Healthcare systems following the unprecedented cyberattack on the company in late February. 

Three weeks after a halted merger between BCBS Louisiana and Elevance Health, two Louisiana state lawmakers have filed bills that would make it more difficult for nonprofit insurers, (such as BCBS Louisiana) to reorganize into a for-profit organization that could…

Some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are reporting year-end financial losses due to ongoing trends such as rising utilization in the Medicare Advantage space and growing demand for weight loss drugs. 

Payers are reporting significant reductions in the volume of claims they receive from providers following the ransomware attack on Optum's Change Healthcare in late February, but the effect on prior authorization processes has been limited.

Twenty-six states now have more than half of their Medicare enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans, according to a March 5 report from Chartis, a healthcare advisory services firm. 

UnitedHealth Group and its Change Healthcare business are facing a proposed class-action lawsuit in the wake of a cyberattack that downed Change's applications, complicating operations at hospitals, physician practices and pharmacies.