About health insurance/insurers
Fitch: Large payer finances stable, but pressures mounting in 2023 “Three notes:
—For the seven largest payers, revenues increased 10.5 percent in the first quarter year over year. Profits rose 7.7 percent in the first quarter compared to 7.6 percent during the same period in 2022.
—Large, geographically diverse payers are seeing stable performances, while less diversified insurers are more varied and subject to local market conditions.
—Financial leverage for large insurers increased to 43 percent in the first quarter, compared to 41 percent year over year, or an increase of 11 percent in outstanding debt to $167 billion.”
SCAN, CareOregon fund $110M in medical debt relief “SCAN Group and CareOregon have issued grants to RIP Medical Debt that will wipe out millions in patients' medical debt.
The two nonprofit insurers, which are in the midst of merging, will together donate $345,000 to the organization, funding debt relief for 67,000 people across Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Texas, where the health plans operate, according to an announcement issued Wednesday morning.
The grant will abolish $110 million in medical debt, and all of the beneficiaries have incomes that are at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, or their debt represents 5% or more of their household income.”
About hospitals and healthcare facilities
BREAKING: Justices Allow Private Suits Under Fed. Nursing Home Law “The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a nursing home resident does indeed have a private right of action under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act, in a suit accusing an Indiana care facility of negligently giving a resident psychotropic drugs and trying to transfer him without family consent.”
Nonprofit Hospitals: Profits And Cash Reserves Grow, Charity Care Does Not “Mean hospital profits grew from 2012 to 2019, but this increase was not associated with the provision of more charity care by nonprofit hospitals, even though their cash reserve balances increased. In contrast, although charity care is not required for for-profit hospitals, an increase in profit was associated with an increase in charity care for them; this may be because spending on charity care is tax deductible.”
About pharma
US Military Is So Worried About Drug Safety It Wants to Test Widely Used Medicines “Defense officials are in talks with Valisure, an independent lab, to test the quality and safety of generic drugs it purchases for millions of military members and their families, according to several people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named as the details aren’t public.”
About the public’s health
Given the Canadian fires, check this site for an update on the air quality in your zip code.