Core and Group Health

I've decided this will be my final regular column for BenefitsPRO. Here are a handful of bullet points, summing up some of the most important messages from the past 20 years.

In a recent speech, President Biden overstated the average monthly cost that patients were paying prior to the Inflation Reduction Act: The out-of-pocket cost for insulin was $58 for a 30-day supply, says a HHS report.

Novo Nordisk's list price for a monthly package of Ozempic is $935.77 before insurance and other rebates, yet it can be manufactured for between $0.89 to $4.73 a month, according to researchers at Yale University.

Increasingly, health system consolidations, which must balance short-term and long-term financial goals, are focused on value-based care, which promotes better care for patients and improved health outcomes at reduced prices.

The Biden administration has announced that it has finalized a new regulation that curbs the use of short-term health insurance plans that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act, limiting the plans to 90 days.

The feds face a year-end deadline to solidify or scuttle payment changes for telehealth services that allow people to "visit" a doctor in their homes, however, it's expected that Congress will "kick the can" past the November election.