Progress against heart disease has stalled, driving down life expectancy in the U.S. after decades in which each generation lived longer than the one that came before, The Wall Street Journal's Betsy McKay reports (subscription).
Why it matters,per WSJ: Cancer was set to take over as the nation's leading cause of death, and it was expected to do so by 2020. But now, heart disease is an "under-recognized contributor" to the decline in U.S. life expectancy.
UnitedHealth Group has reportedly agreed to acquire Equian, an Indianapolis-based health care payments firm, for about $3.2 billion from New Mountain Capital, according to the WSJ.
Why it matters: UnitedHealth Group is the parent company of the largest U.S. health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, and is on an acquisition spree. "It is likely that UnitedHealth would merge Equian into its Optum health-services arm, a rapidly growing part of its business that caters to insurers, hospitals and other health-care companies. Equian would add to its array of offerings and help Optum branch out beyond health care, since Equian has other types of insurers as clients as well," writes the Wall Street Journal's Cara Lombardo.
Hospital and provider groups may hate the leading House and Senate proposals for ending surprise medical bills, but the largest providers will likely be least affected, according to a Moody's analysis.
Driving the news: The Federation of American Hospitals, the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association all oppose tying payments for out-of-network care to the median in-network rate for the service.
