Weekly edition
The week in one place: 6 stories by section, and the figures that defined it.
A proposed rule carrying out a 2026 law would also limit how drug benefit managers are paid in Part D and end generic drug copays for the poorest enrollees in 2028.
The proposed deal would join two large nonprofit systems in a market with no dominant player, and a KFF researcher noted that hospital consolidation has been linked to higher prices.
2 min read
The company said pricing discipline and benefit changes cut the share of premiums it spends on care, after it raised prices and trimmed benefits for seniors.
2 min read
The state buys unpaid medical bills in bulk for a fraction of what patients were charged and cancels them, showing how little old medical debt is worth once it goes unpaid.
2 min read
The Health Care Cost Institute's annual claims report found that people with job-based coverage used only slightly more care over five years, while the average price of that care climbed every year.
3 min read
A national claims study of more than half a million workers with diabetes or high blood pressure found that patients in high-deductible plans paid far more of the bill for routine recommended care, though the dollar gap was modest.
2 min read
6million
low-income enrollees whose generic drug copays would fall to $0 in 2028
Medicare proposal would cap costs for patients misled by wrong provider directories
$1.337billion
net federal cost of eliminating those copays from 2028 to 2037
Medicare proposal would cap costs for patients misled by wrong provider directories
90days
how often plans would have to verify most directory listings
Medicare proposal would cap costs for patients misled by wrong provider directories
$444million
Congressional Budget Office estimate of federal savings from the Part D PBM fee limit, 2026 to 2035
Medicare proposal would cap costs for patients misled by wrong provider directories
$1.4billion
medical debt erased by the Illinois Medical Debt Relief Program in two years
Illinois says its program has erased $1.4 billion in medical debt in two years
694,000
Illinois residents who received relief
Illinois says its program has erased $1.4 billion in medical debt in two years
$1,200
average debt erased per person, with one person receiving more than $900,000
Illinois says its program has erased $1.4 billion in medical debt in two years
$10million
approximate state spending, or more than $100 of debt erased per state dollar
Illinois says its program has erased $1.4 billion in medical debt in two years
