Category: Insurance
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STAT+: 10 million expected to lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut law, CBO says
STAT+: 10 million expected to lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut law, CBO says WASHINGTON — President Trump’s major domestic policy law will result in nearly 10 million more people going without health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate on the final law. The law, which included significant cuts in…
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STAT+: What the GOP’s cuts to public broadcasting have to do with health care policy
STAT+: What the GOP’s cuts to public broadcasting have to do with health care policy WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans early on Friday morning passed legislation to take back money they had already appropriated for this year, enacting steep cuts to foreign aid and to public broadcasting. And while none of the funding was for domestic…
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STAT+: Judge dismisses Humana’s case over downgraded Medicare Advantage ratings
STAT+: Judge dismisses Humana’s case over downgraded Medicare Advantage ratings A federal judge on Friday tossed out a lawsuit from Humana that attempted to reinstate higher quality ratings to its 2025 Medicare Advantage plans. The ruling jeopardizes billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses that Humana gets from the government’s star ratings program. However, Humana said…
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STAT+: How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts
STAT+: How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts WASHINGTON — Republicans swiftly approved President Trump’s tax cut bill last week, despite a full-court press from doctors, hospitals, and patients to beat back some of the largest health care cuts in American history — more than $1 trillion in all…
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STAT+: Survival rates for cancer patients on immunotherapy depend on insurance coverage, study finds
STAT+: Survival rates for cancer patients on immunotherapy depend on insurance coverage, study finds As a cancer patient, access to innovative drugs can help extend your life — that is if you have health insurance, a new study finds. In a JAMA Open Network study published Monday, researchers from the American Cancer Society found that…
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STAT+: How the tax-cut bill that just passed the Senate would upend health care
STAT+: How the tax-cut bill that just passed the Senate would upend health care WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans passed President Trump’s landmark tax bill Tuesday morning, putting transformational health provisions a major step closer to enactment. The bill slashes health care spending by more than $1 trillion over a decade, cuts that would affect patients,…
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STAT+: Dr. Oz tries to seal the deal on Trump’s tax-cut bill
STAT+: Dr. Oz tries to seal the deal on Trump’s tax-cut bill WASHINGTON — As GOP leadership pushes to pass President Trump’s tax megabill this week, one administration official has been working hard behind the scenes to close the deal: Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid. House Republicans, including those on the fence about…
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STAT+: 11.8 million to lose health insurance under Senate Republican tax bill, CBO projects
STAT+: 11.8 million to lose health insurance under Senate Republican tax bill, CBO projects WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans’ version of President Trump’s tax bill would lead to 11.8 million people losing health insurance over the next decade, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office released Saturday night. That projection suggests the Senate’s…
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STAT+: As Trump’s deadline nears, Republicans face substantial disagreement on Medicaid cuts
STAT+: As Trump’s deadline nears, Republicans face substantial disagreement on Medicaid cuts WASHINGTON — With days to go before Congress is set to leave town, lawmakers are still at odds over key Medicaid provisions in the tax bill touted by President Trump. Republicans across the House and Senate are still working out significant disagreements on…
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STAT+: Insurance coverage of vaccines at risk in RFK Jr.’s reshuffling of CDC’s vaccine advisers
STAT+: Insurance coverage of vaccines at risk in RFK Jr.’s reshuffling of CDC’s vaccine advisers The decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remove and replace all members of the government’s independent vaccine advisory committee doesn’t just change how the nation will approach vaccine policy. It could also take money…
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STAT+: Health insurers promise to reduce barriers to care under pressure from Trump administration
STAT+: Health insurers promise to reduce barriers to care under pressure from Trump administration WASHINGTON — Last week’s pledge from more than 40 health insurers to cut down on prior authorizations came after some behind-the-scenes convincing from the Trump administration. The administration pushed insurers to sign a voluntary pledge to cut back on prior authorizations…
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STAT+: Senate GOP proposes to rein in states’ tools to boost Medicaid funding
STAT+: Senate GOP proposes to rein in states’ tools to boost Medicaid funding WASHINGTON — To help pay for President Trump’s tax cuts, the Senate is clamping down on tactics that states use to boost federal Medicaid funding, according to legislation released by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. The text includes harsher restrictions on…
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STAT+: Cassidy is circulating a proposed law to push down U.S. drug prices, backing a key Trump ambition
STAT+: Cassidy is circulating a proposed law to push down U.S. drug prices, backing a key Trump ambition WASHINGTON — Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (La.) is the latest Republican to take an interest in legislation that would tie U.S. brand drug prices to lower prices in other wealthy countries, according to seven people…
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STAT+: GOP senators zero in on Medicaid policy in Trump’s tax bill that has little impact on enrollment
STAT+: GOP senators zero in on Medicaid policy in Trump’s tax bill that has little impact on enrollment WASHINGTON — A handful of Republican senators want to dial back federal funding cuts to Medicaid in President Trump’s tax cut package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. But the changes that most of them are…
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STAT+: Lawmakers lobby doctors to keep quiet — or speak up — on Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax bill
STAT+: Lawmakers lobby doctors to keep quiet — or speak up — on Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax bill WASHINGTON — With millions of people at risk of losing health insurance under President Trump’s tax bill, lawmakers have begun lobbying the lobbyists: asking health care interests to keep quiet — or speak up — about…
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10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects
10.9 million people would lose health insurance under Trump’s tax cut bill, CBO projects WASHINGTON — House Republicans’ tax bill would lead to nearly 11 million people losing health insurance, providing a key source of savings to help finance President Trump’s tax cuts, according to projections that nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers published Wednesday. Another 5.1 million…
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STAT+: Internal document shows how UnitedHealth executives prepared to tamp down investor unrest
STAT+: Internal document shows how UnitedHealth executives prepared to tamp down investor unrest An internal document drafted in advance of UnitedHealth Group’s shareholder meeting this week reveals how the company’s leadership — facing an extraordinary series of financial and legal challenges — sought to downplay complaints about its business practices and assure jittery investors that…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth conducting ‘comprehensive review’ of Medicare practices that are facing federal scrutiny, new CEO says
STAT+: UnitedHealth conducting ‘comprehensive review’ of Medicare practices that are facing federal scrutiny, new CEO says UnitedHealth Group’s new CEO told investors that the company is reevaluating how it tallies Medicare Advantage patients’ diagnoses for reimbursement purposes, an issue currently under investigation by the Justice Department. Stephen Hemsley’s remarks during the company’s annual shareholder meeting…
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STAT+: How Trump’s tax cut bill would reshape health care
STAT+: How Trump’s tax cut bill would reshape health care WASHINGTON — The House passed President Trump’s tax-cutting plan early Thursday morning with the attendant health care measures to partially pay for it. Relative to earlier drafts, GOP lawmakers revised the bill to further cut government spending, discourage Medicaid expansion, and potentially restrict coverage of…
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STAT+: Trump, building on Biden policy, to speed up audits of Medicare Advantage insurers
STAT+: Trump, building on Biden policy, to speed up audits of Medicare Advantage insurers President Trump’s federal Medicare agency will expedite audits of Medicare Advantage insurers, a move that could claw back nearly $500 million a year for taxpayers, according to previous federal estimates. However, the audits remain mired in a two-year-old lawsuit initiated by…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth’s Optum working on Medicare risk scoring system that would use AI
STAT+: UnitedHealth’s Optum working on Medicare risk scoring system that would use AI SAN DIEGO — Optum, the health data and care provider division of UnitedHealth Group, is developing a way to calculate how sick Medicare patients are through artificial intelligence, instead of relying solely on diagnosis codes submitted by physicians. Ken Cohen, a physician…
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STAT+: Our biggest burning questions on Trump’s order to bring down drug prices
STAT+: Our biggest burning questions on Trump’s order to bring down drug prices WASHINGTON — President Trump’s executive order to lower drug prices through sweeping, cross-agency action left leaders in the pharmaceutical industry scrambling Monday to make sense of what may be ahead — and how to respond. The announcement was long on messaging, but…
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Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal death penalty charge in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing
Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal death penalty charge in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty and the judge warned the Justice Department to stop making…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth discloses $1.7 million in security spending after slaying of top exec
STAT+: UnitedHealth discloses $1.7 million in security spending after slaying of top exec UnitedHealth Group spent nearly $1.7 million on security for its top executives last year, and it appears the expenses all occurred in the final weeks of 2024, after top executive Brian Thompson was killed, new filings show. Thompson was the CEO of…
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STAT+: Study shows how UnitedHealth uses coding to rake in extra cash from Medicare Advantage
STAT+: Study shows how UnitedHealth uses coding to rake in extra cash from Medicare Advantage Health insurers in the private Medicare business have a big incentive to diagnose their members with lots of health conditions: The government pays them more money. A new study shows the extent to which the biggest player in that business,…
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STAT+: Trump gives major lift to 2026 Medicare Advantage payments
STAT+: Trump gives major lift to 2026 Medicare Advantage payments Health insurers that sell Medicare Advantage plans are going to get about $30 billion more in taxpayer money next year. President Trump’s Medicare agency finalized a rule Monday that would raise benchmark payment rates to privatized Medicare plans by 5.1% for 2026. That was higher…
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STAT+: Medicare gets a big (unofficial) surprise: a 17-year extension on when it’ll run dry
STAT+: Medicare gets a big (unofficial) surprise: a 17-year extension on when it’ll run dry Medicare’s financial future unexpectedly got a lot rosier, at least according to some federal budget wonks. The Congressional Budget Office recently published its long-term predictions of the federal budget and buried a big surprise for people who follow the Medicare…