Tag: Healthcare affordability

A Wake-Up Call for Healthcare? Inside Blue Cross Blue Shield MA Historic $400M Loss

Live Insurance News
Blue Cross Blue Shield MA Historic 400M Loss

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Reports Record $400.4M Loss in 2024 Healthcare Spending Surge Creates Financial Pressures Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) ended 2024 with a staggering $400.4 million operating loss, marking the most severe financial setback in the nonprofit insurer’s history. The company attributed this decline to an unprecedented surge in healthcare spending, which has risen at its fastest pace in more than a decade. For context, the company’s largest prior loss, recorded in 2009, was $223.6 million—less than half of 2024’s figure. BCBSMA’s net loss…

Read More

From Repeal to Rescue: Why Republicans Are Backing Affordable Care Act Subsidy Extensions

Live Insurance News
Affordable Care Act

Republicans Warming to ACA Subsidies Amid Healthcare Challenges A recent Forbes article has brought attention to a growing shift among Republican lawmakers regarding their stance on extending health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Commonly known as Obamacare, the ACA has long been polarizing, but this change signals a recognition of the program’s widespread impact. The subsidies, expanded under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, have played a crucial role in making healthcare more affordable for millions of Americans. With these provisions set to expire at the…

Read More

The High Cost of Health: Who Gets Weight Loss Prescriptions?

Angela Linders
The High Cost of Health

Disparities in Weight Loss Prescriptions The disparity in access to medications like Wegovy, Rybelsus, and Ozempic highlights a significant issue within the U.S. healthcare system. Despite the increasing medical applications of these drugs, which include managing diabetes and potentially preventing heart disease and stroke, many insurers remain reluctant to cover them for weight loss. Medicare, for example, is legally barred from covering weight-loss drugs unless the patient presents serious health risks. This limitation leaves over two-fifths of American adults who are obese but otherwise healthy without coverage options. Federal spending…

Read More

Will the federal government make dental insurance available to everyone?

H. Cutner
Dental Insurance - US Flag

If a new rule moves forward, people could one day affordably enjoy care for their teeth Dental insurance is a kind of coverage carried by few people outside of benefits packages offered by employers, but that could change if a new federal rule is allowed to move forward. The idea is to make it easier for people to care for their smiles After all, without dental insurance, if someone suffers a cavity, a cracked tooth, or another type of painful dental injury, the out-of-pocket cost can be in the hundreds…

Read More

Almost 3 in 4 employees would change their health insurance plan to save money

Marc
Health insurance plan - employees - business

A new Centivo survey of workers with employer-sponsored coverage revealed this trend. The results of a recent Centivo survey of employees with an employer-sponsored health insurance plan showed that those workers would be willing to take less coverage to save money. The research aimed to find out how willing workers are to alter their coverage if it improved affordability. What the survey found was that 73 percent of the survey respondents would be willing to modify the core features of their health insurance plan if it meant that they would…

Read More