Sara Hansard

Large employers that sponsor health plans expect a 6% increase in costs this year, largely from prescription drugs, according to a survey of companies covering 19 million Americans released Tuesday.

Access to affordable primary care and chronic disease prevention will improve under legislation approved by a House panel, an official with a group that represents large employer health plans said.

Employer-sponsored health plans in 2024 may resort again to passing costs on to their workers as medical inflation heats up, aided by demand for weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy, employee benefit advisers say.

The newly-reopened federal system that handles surprise billing payment disputes is still too inefficient to be effective, doctors say, while health insurers facing them in arbitration say the restart has left them scrambling to process a deluge of claims.

Expanded use of high deductible health plans and health savings accounts are the top recommendations that a group representing large employers has made to a House task force studying potential health-care policy changes.

The rule for resolving payment disputes under the No Surprises Act complies with Congress’ “express mandate,” the Biden administration told the Fifth Circuit as part of ongoing litigation over challenges to its medical billing rule.

A 2019 Oklahoma law requiring pharmacy benefit managers to open their networks conflicts with US Supreme Court precedent and thus is invalid, the organization representing PBMs said in a federal appeals court filing.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance for family coverage rose 7% to nearly $24,000 in 2023 following nearly no growth in 2022, according to new data from the health policy research organization KFF.

Major company sponsors of health plans may have to re-evaluate their coverage of mental health benefits if a Biden administration proposal is finalized, several national groups representing employers said in new public comments on the regulations.

The Biden administration Monday cleared a final rule governing short-term limited-duration insurance plans, which critics say are a cheaper but lower-quality offering that diminishes the consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act.