Humana CEO Bruce Broussard told investors at a small Goldman Sachs conference last week that the recent repeal of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance tax is "a substantial benefit to the company's stakeholders," according to a summary of the meeting from Goldman Sachs.
The bottom line: This policy reversal will translate into hundreds of millions of dollars going toward Wall Street, but Broussard was more sheepish at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this week, where he would not say exactly how much of that money would be booked as profit.
The latest poll from Gallup shows more Americans are putting off medical care because of the cost.
Why it matters: Despite a declining unemployment rate and growing GDP, an increasing number of Americans say they are forgoing often necessary medical procedures because of the cost.
A billionaire with an interest in health care, state legislatures and a well-respected policy shop are all aligning in 2020 to take on hospital costs.
Driving the news: Modern Healthcare reports that the National Association for State Health Policy will be coming up with model legislation in 2020 to help states rein in hospital spending, in addition to work on drug costs.
Emergency doctors — which are at the center of the surprise billing debate — saw their compensation go up more than any other physician specialty between 2013 and 2017.
Why it matters: This translates into higher health care costs, which we all pay for through our taxes, premiums and out-of-pocket spending.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke on the Affordable Care Act and how she believes it's better to build on the plan than try to bring in something new, splitting from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who back Medicare for All.
"The Affordable Care Act is 10 points more popular than the president of the United States. The answer is to build on it."
The gene therapy pipeline contains several drugs that are likely to cost the health care system billions of dollars in the near future, according to an a new CVS white paper.
The big picture: Drugmakers are already having to come up with creative ways to get paid for high-cost drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, and that's before these new gene therapies hit the market.
The Affordable Care Act’s insurance market has not been materially affected by the elimination of the individual mandate penalty — undercutting a key argument in the lawsuit urging the courts to strike down the health care law.
The big picture: Healthy enrollees have not left the market in droves, premiums have not spiked and there has been no market death spiral.
The share of Americans who say it's important to vaccinate children has fallen from 94% to 84% since 2001, according to a new Gallup survey.
The big picture: Misinformation about vaccines is still rampant — 46% of those polled said they weren't sure whether vaccines cause autism, despite numerous studies showing no apparent link.
Hospitals acknowledged to investors at this year's J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that their industry is contributing to patients' financial turmoil.
Yes, but: Hospitals reassured those same investors that they were focused on growing their revenue, with no real details about how that would save patients money.
