About health insurance/insurers
MedPAC mulls standardizing Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits “The Medicare Payment and Advisory Commission is considering standardizing the supplemental benefits Medicare Advantage insurers can offer, to make it easier for beneficiaries to compare plans.
At its Jan. 12 meeting, commission staff, which advises Congress on Medicare, put forth several options for standardizing Part A and B cost sharing and hearing, vision and dental benefits. The proposed standardizations would not apply to additional supplemental benefits, or employer-sponsored or special needs Medicare Advantage plans.”
Obamacare enrollment hits record level as Trump vows repeal “More than 21 million people have signed up for health plans through the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The record level of enrollment comes as former president Donald Trump, seeking the GOP nomination, is again vowing to repeal the program if elected.
Sign-ups in the health insurance marketplaces — a jump of 5 million since last year and the third straight year of record enrollment — were partly driven by states “unwinding” pandemic-era protections in Medicaid, with millions of people culled from the safety net health program…”
Elevance Health posts $856M in profit in Q4 earnings beat “Elevance Health beat the Street on both earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, reporting $856 million in profit.
The company also posted $42.6 billion in revenue for Q4, according to its earnings report released Wednesday morning. That's up nearly 7% from the $39.9 billion in revenue reported for the prior year quarter. Profit declined slightly year-over-year. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Elevance Health reported $865 million in profit, making for a 1% decrease.”
Healthcare billing fraud: 10 recent cases FYI
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Cleveland Clinic confiscated 30K weapons last year “In 2023, Cleveland Clinic saw a record 14 million patients — and took 30,000 weapons from those patients and their visitors.”
About pharma
Many Patients Maintain Weight Loss a Year After Stopping Semaglutide and Liraglutide
“Key Findings
Two-thirds of patients are able to maintain weight loss achieved while on semaglutide or liraglutide even a year after discontinuing the medication.
However, a portion of patients who stop taking either medication experience weight regain, with 18.7% of liraglutide users and 17.7% of semaglutide users regaining all the weight they had lost or more.”