Payer

With the relative success of vaccine mandates in keeping employees safe, company mandates may have the potential to lower healthcare costs as well.

The state of Georgia is looking for value as it seeks to offer another Medicaid contract to a managed care company.

Blue Shield of California announced Sept. 10 a collaboration with Walgreens to deliver additional services to members.

Medicare Advantage insurer SCAN Health Plan will be expanding its market reach into Arizona and Nevada for 2022. It's the first time the payer will offer products outside of California, where it currently has 220,000 members.

A study published in JAMA Health Forum found that after 2.7 million Americans lost their insurance in the spring and summer of 2020, fall saw declining insurance rates stabilize.

An Urban Institute report funded by the Commonwealth Fund found that permanently keeping subsidies created by the American Rescue Plan Act and expanding marketplace subsidies to close the Medicaid coverage gap would strengthen insurance coverage and affordability. 

UnitedHealthcare is paying about half the rate that other insurers are for COVID-19 shots, which pediatricians fear could hinder vaccination rates.

Analysts say President Joe Biden's early approaches to big tech companies and economic competition mean increased scrutiny for insurers looking to make big business moves. 

The American Medical Association is telling employers to push back against prior authorization, which it claims can lead to increased costs and employee absenteeism. 

Twenty years after 9/11, the first responders are struggling to receive benefits promised to them for their service as health conditions tied to being on ground zero continue to flare up.