Update

The Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Social Security, plans to meet with the agency every month to address SSA's attempt to claw back $21.6 billion in overpayments sent to beneficiaries in error.

Since Pres. Biden proposed rules to reinforce the Mental Health Parity law in July, there's been mixed reaction to the rules, however, employer groups and insurers point out one glaring issue – a shortage of mental health providers.

The U.S. faces a serious shortage of primary care doctors for many reasons, but Medicare, which has significant muscle in the health care market, tends to reward specialties that emphasize procedures more than primary care.

Members of a Senate panel that oversees Social Security sent a letter to the agency's acting commissioner, urging her to do more to prevent overpayments and "limit harm to vulnerable beneficiaries" when trying to recover money.

Over the past 3 years, FTC officials have signaled they would scrutinize private equity acquisitions in health care, like the recent FTC civil lawsuit accusing one of the nation's largest anesthesiology groups of monopolistic practices.

Instead of jumping to GLP-1 drugs that can be costly, a step therapy approach guides patients by offering individualized care with behavioral changes, followed by mental health support and Gen 1 anti-obesity meds.

Congress is considering legislation that would equalize payments for certain services regardless of where they are provided, but for now, patients need to have doctors send the order to a commercial lab like Labcorp or Quest.

In the new report released last week, the agency reveals it recovered $4.9 billion in overpayments but still has a $23 billion uncollected overpayment balance, despite repeated attempts to contact beneficiaries.