"If health insurance premiums rise faster than wages and general inflation, small employers are likely to face intensified financial strain, which could accelerate the erosion of health plan sponsorship among firms with fewer than 100 workers," said Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., director of health benefits research for the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

“At a time when health care costs continue to soar, we are taking a stand against insulin price manipulation and fraud,” said Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway.

The ERISA Litigation Reform Act, introduced by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., is intended to curb meritless class-action lawsuits by clarifying the pleading standard applicable to ERISA-prohibited transactions claims.

The nation’s three primary insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi) and three largest PBMs (CVS Caremark, Express Script and OptumRx) are named in the lawsuit.

Several other states also are taking action to help residents pay increased premiums.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration sent termination notices to hundreds of grant recipients late on Tuesday, NPR reported.

“As health care costs have risen, employers have shifted more and more of the burden for health care spending onto their employees through co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance and excluding some forms of care from coverage,” according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Even as patient experience climbs the priority list, revenue growth remains a central goal, the company’s latest Transformative Trends and Data-Driven Insights Report found.