The market value of 10 large, listed health insurance and pharmacy stocks 1 dropped by a combined $30 billion in the first two hours of trading.

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The drug has been controversial, to say the least. Vimovo was created using two readily and cheaply available generic, or over-the-counter, medicines: naproxen, also known by the brand Aleve, and esomeprazole magnesium, also known as Nexium. The Aleve handles your pain and the Nexium helps with the upset stomach that’s sometimes caused by the pain reliever. The key selling point of this new “convenience drug”? It’s easier to take one pill than two.

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Growing health care costs “act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” said Berkshire Hathaway CEO and chairman Warren Buffett in a statement. “Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.”

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When anyone tells us about manufacturer Rx rebates, our response is “Oh, you mean commissions, right? That’s what this is all about…………commissions. Commissions on a $100,000 per year specialty drug can be $45,000. Opps, I meant the rebate could be as high as $45,000.

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This article substantiates what we have been saying – health care costs have remained essentially flat but health insurance costs have not. Providers are simply raising their prices (not their costs) through secretive managed care contracts (PPO) you are not allowed to see nor audit.

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Large self-funded employer sponsored health plan adopts ill informed strategies to reign in health care costs……………

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We are have a few more openings on our panel for surgeons and proceduralists in the greater Houston area who offer affordable cash pay procedures or have an interest in beginning to offer these. We are providing the infrastructure and the willing consumers, seeking a few more willing providers! Message me, please if interested.

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A South Carolina school district has sued an insurance brokerage and several insurance companies, saying the district was sold excessive policies and charged too much.

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Some medical-claims reduction companies wait until the last minute to resolve your claims – sometimes waiting too long and leaving you and your clients with a bigger bill than necessary.

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The insurance industry is an anomaly. How so? It plots to eliminate competition and limit the flow of information in order to maximize income, all at customers’ expense………………

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Some insurance consultants set their fees based upon the value they will deliver to their clients. Others don’t.

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“We as independent docs save patients and employers 200-300% in cost of care compared to hospital employed/subsidized physician care. We are worth supporting and saving!” – Cristin Dickerson

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Recognizing the unmet needs in the traditional health insurance industry, Sedera Health was founded in 2015 as an alternative solution………………..

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National Producer Number Lookup

Oscar’s claim to fame is its use of technology and clinical integration to help consumers both use their benefits and navigate the healthcare system………………...

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Looking to hiring an independent fiduciary?

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“What we’re seeing is the gross billed charges are rising anywhere from three to up to seven times the cost,” Glascott said. “It’s stunning.”……………………..The charge increases while the costs are flat.”

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If your client is weighing conversion to a Medicare Reference-Based Pricing plan, there’s a lot to consider. You need to ensure they avoid common pitfalls, and that’s why we’re here to help.

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The Texas Department of Insurance (Department) has recently received questions and complaints regarding whether insurance companies, agents and/or agencies may provide administrative services to clients without additional charge.

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” I don’t see how it’s possible to serve as a fiduciary while not having access to claims data, the ability to hold providers accountable by auditing detailed bills or providing transparency in cost and outcomes to guide participants.” – Chris Shoffner

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“As an outsider looking in and not having all the political implications and considerations that board members face, I’d like to give you our perspective and advice for consideration on your choices.” – Greg Klement

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Flu season is shaping up as one of the worst in years, officials say…………………….

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Tucker Carlson debates Texas liberal seeking to oust Ted Cruz in November………………

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Kentucky on Friday became the first U.S. state to require that Medicaid recipients work or get jobs training, after gaining federal approval for the fundamental change to the 50-year-old health insurance program for the poor……

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“We have encountered resistance with RBP service providers that base their fee on a percentage of billed or savings…………………..”

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The majority of new healthcare jobs are not in clinical roles, but are in administrative and management positions, such as receptionists and office clerks……………

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Today I received an email asking if I wanted to be the “…only pain management/orthopedic practice that CVS recommends to all their customers for a year…”

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I gotta work? I never had to before! This is messed up!

States to be allowed to require “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients to work……………

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Humana officially ended its membership in America’s Health Insurance Plans just before the start of 2018, a spokesperson for the insurer confirmed to Modern Healthcare……………….

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The other shoe in Donald Trump’s war on ObamaCare is about to drop. It will end ObamaCare as we know it.

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QUESTION: Do political subdivisions have a fiduciary duty towards management of their self-funded employee health & welfare plans? If so, why do some make really stupid decisions?

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“The regulation of AHPs is colored by the fact that they constitute Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs). Under [ERISA], states have broad authority to apply their insurance laws to self-insured MEWAs. Many states regulate self-insured MEWAs like a commercial insurance company……………….

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We are a direct contracting and bundling entity that works on free market principles and is achieving exceptional results from providers. Pre-negotiated deals have the same level of disruption as retrospectively negotiated deals, but are far less confrontational and afford the ability for providers to step up and do the right thing proactively.

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Are you ready for your 2018 health plan rate increase?

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Idaho to allow sale of “illegal” health plans……………………..

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He wore a white lab coat and a stethoscope, but as several would-be patients in South Florida learned in 2015 and 2016, Malachi A. Love-Robinson was no doctor……………….

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Even with thirty years of experience as an actuary in the insurance industry, it took me a year to figure this out………

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This is another great article from Griswold. Some say competing against the large brokerage houses like Gallaghers, Higginbotham, Willis and others is tough. It’s not………………………….

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A few months before adviser Mick Rodgers of Boston’s Axial Benefits Group was named EBA’s 2017 Employee Benefit Adviser of the Year, he and 29 other forward-thinking benefits advisers from across the country signed their name to the “Declaration by NextGeneration Benefits Advisers^” that declares nothing less than a revolution in employee benefits.

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       “How Sweet It Is!

Agreement gave the Blue Cross the health plan business, including administrative services and possibly reinsurance coverage, for six years. In exchange, Blue Cross and Blue Shield gave the plan sponsor more than $20 million………

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It’s not easy to get Americans mad at a behind-the-scenes industry they’ve barely even heard of, but pharmaceutical companies have spent most of this year trying………………“Who decides what you pay for your medicines? Not who you might think,” a concerned woman’s voice says in a radio spot airing in the District last month. “More than one-third of the list price of a medicine is rebated back to middlemen, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.”

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Secret network pricing helps render patients defenseless against price gouging. It’s as absurd as grocers being permitted to keep the price of milk secret……………..

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If 17.5% of GDP could be transferred to workers tomorrow, and health insurance outlawed, you would see……………………

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One new drug promises to stop cancer from spreading to other organs. Another would treat blood cancer. A third would use the body’s immune system to kill tumors.

All three show encouraging results, and need just one more step to be approved for use in the United States. The drugs have something else in common: They were created in China.

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Public anger over pharma price gouging is running high…………”More than one-third of the list price of a medicine is rebated back to middlemen, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.”

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Hospital groups are vowing to push forward with a fight against the Trump administration over changes to a federal drug discount program following a setback last week…………….

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Woman, 67, who battled blood cancer for five years ‘recovers after treating it with TURMERIC’ in the first recorded case of its kind……………….Doctors say her case is the first recorded instance in which a patient has recovered by using the spice after stopping conventional medical treatments…………..

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“A proposal from the Hamilton Project would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) more resources to scrutinize medical technologies and allow the agency to experiment with “reference pricing”.

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American doctors routinely prescribe medical treatments that are not based on sound science………………

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“A fully-insured health plan is a bundled approach of smoke and mirrors wherein the House sets the rules and always wins.”

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