Payer

CMS Administrator Seema Verma wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that "Medicare for All" proposals would harm seniors' access to care by bringing all Americans into a system created to support just older adults.

Here are six recent articles posted by Becker's Hospital Review that concern payer-provider relationships:

Sutter Health | Aetna, the joint health plan launched by Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Aetna, added Stanford (Calif.) Health Care to its provider network, according to the North Bay Business Journal.

Centene Corp.'s recent agreement to buy Wellcare Health plans and create a government-sponsored healthcare giant could have implications for a host of other companies, including CVS Health and Humana, according to Barron's.

A judge struck down policies backed by the Trump administration that required Medicaid beneficiaries to work in Kentucky and Arkansas to maintain benefits, according to NPR.

Virginia became the first state in the nation to require insurers to count drugmaker copay coupons toward deductibles and catastrophic coverage, according to Inside Health Policy.

UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, spent more than $400 million on affordable housing investments, the company said March 26.

Centene Corp. will acquire WellCare Health Plans in a cash and stock transaction valued at $17.3 billion, the health insurers said March 27.

St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare became a part of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri's Medicare Advantage provider network March 25.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas agreed to pay a $75,000 settlement after a deaf job applicant accused the health insurer of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the Dallas Morning News.