The rising cost of health insurance is an ongoing concern in the United States. New research shows that increasing health insurance costs are eating up a growing proportion of worker’s compensation, and have been a major factor in both flattening wages and increasing income inequality over the past 30 years. In a study from the…
As part of its efforts to ensure the supply of medical products from China during the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified 20 drugs that are made in or produced solely from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) sourced from China. In a statement to Focus, FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo said…
More U.S. retirement savers should probably buy ordinary annuities before they retire, but they don’t, and policymakers need to come up with an alternative, according to Alicia Munnell, a top academic retirement policy researcher. Munnell — director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College — says she thinks promoting use of “Social Security bridge” arrangements may be…
Walmart is expanding benefits available through its telehealth program, which offers associates $4 virtual care visits through the retail giant’s partnership with Doctor on Demand, to employees in Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The expanded telehealth program went live Jan. 1 and allows associates in Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin to access a new Doctor on Demand…
On December 31, 2019, a three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the methodology adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to administer the risk adjustment program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A district court in New Mexico had previously concluded that part of the methodology—the use of statewide average premiums—was arbitrary…