Democrats and reproductive rights organizations are putting renewed pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that health insurers fully cover contraception, citing fresh evidence that companies are failing to meet the Affordable Care Act requirement.
Why it matters: Advocates have long complained that some insurers are improperly charging women or denying coverage of some birth control methods, and the issue has received heightened attention from the Biden administration in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion.
A coalition of powerful companies and nonprofits is trying to turn the first Tuesday in December into "Wellbeing at Work Day," a new initiative aimed at changing the culture around mental wellness in the workplace.
Why it matters: America's mental health crisis — particularly salient among young people — is not only a priority for U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, but also for business leaders, as the economic cost of employee anxiety and depression comes into focus.
CVS Health's new plan to make the way it prices prescription drugs more predictable is the latest shift by pharmacy giants to overhaul their business models amid increasing pressure from policymakers and industry upstarts.
Why it matters: More transparent pricing that's more closely tied to the base cost of a drug could drive down how much consumers and insurers pay for some medicines.
CVS Health will overhaul how it pays for drugs, saying it will use a more "transparent" model that could reduce secrecy around drug prices.
Why it matters: Retail drug pricing has typically been based on a set of factors, obscuring the true cost of acquiring and dispensing drugs and making it difficult for consumers to figure out if they're getting the best deal.
Food and Drug Administration inspections of drug manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and abroad dropped well below pre-pandemic levels between 2020 and 2022, according to a new study in Health Affairs.
Why it matters: The findings are further evidence of a fragile global drug supply chain at a time when some critical medicines are in short supply. Some of the squeeze was due to inspections that took overseas facilities offline because of safety concerns.
More drug companies are racing to join what's been a two-horse race to make blockbuster obesity drugs, snapping up smaller biotechs and vying for a market that could be worth tens of billions in less than a decade.
Why it matters: GLP-1 agonists like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic have soared in popularity despite high price tags, mixed insurance coverage and a number of unpleasant side effects.
Loneliness and stress are high — but many of us struggle to find the right solutions.
By the numbers: 4 in 10 Americans said their mental health was only fair or poor, according to a 2022 report from the American Psychiatric Association.
More than 1 in 3 Americans are lonely, per a Harvard study. That rises to 61% when looking at younger people, and 51% among mothers with young children.
