Insurance News

March 8, 2024

NABIP Responds to White House Fact Sheet on “Fighting Corporate Rip-Offs”

The White House released a fact sheet on Tuesday detailing the launch of the “Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing,” co-chaired by the DOJ and FTC. In the fact sheet, the Biden administration outlines several actors that the Strike Force will focus on – including “insurance companies paying brokers to steer patients towards certain plans based […]
November 3, 2023

CMS Releases Medicare Outpatient and Ambulatory Center Prospective Payment Final Rule, Includes New Transparency Requirements

CMS finalized Medicare payment rates for hospital outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) services for calendar year 2024. Issued annually, this regulation traditionally sets payment rates for hospital outpatient departments and ASC services, as well as update policies related to reimbursement, coding and other areas. In this year’s final rule, CMS also included several provisions on enforcing […]
August 23, 2023

Pope Insurance Announces New Hire

Englewood, FL (August 23, 2023) – Pope Insurance, a full-service insurance agency, recently hired Daniela Koci of Koci Insurance Services. In her role at Pope Insurance, Ms. Koci will focus on serving Medicare and Group Benefit clients. “We are excited to welcome Daniela to Pope Insurance,” said Carolyn Pope, Founder of Pope Insurance. “We believe […]
July 28, 2023

Biden Administration Releases Mental Health Parity Proposed Rule

The DOL, HHS, and Treasury Department (tri-agencies) released a proposed rule and technical release earlier this week focused on mental health parity. While the proposed regulations do not make any sweeping changes to fiduciary responsibility, they do require plans and issuers to collect and evaluate relevant data to assess the impact of NQTLs on parity. […]
June 27, 2023

House Passes NABIP-Supported Employer-Reporting Legislation

The House passed H.R. 3801, also known as the Employer Reporting Improvement Act, on Wednesday,. This bill is based on the Commonsense Reporting Act, legislation that NABIP has supported for several years. While the bill has successfully passed the House, it must be considered by the Senate and signed by the president prior to becoming […]
May 16, 2023

Fact Sheet: End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: May 9, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 9, 2023 Contact: HHS Press Office202-690-6343media@hhs.gov Based on current COVID-19 trends, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is planning for the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19, declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, to expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023. […]
April 14, 2023

Health Plan Rules for Employees Enrolled in Medicare?

Question: We have some older employees (and spouses) who are enrolled in Medicare but still participating in our health plan. Is there a permissible way to exclude them from our health plan or offer them incentives to not enroll? Answer: Older employees are staying in the workforce longer, which means that employers are more likely to […]
April 7, 2023

CMS Shortens List of Price-Capped Part B Drugs

CMS removed seven drugs from its first list of Part B drugs whose prices rose faster than inflation, shortening the list of price-capped drugs from 27 to 20. As a reminder, the IRA instituted a penalty for drug manufactures that raises the price of a Part D drug faster than inflation. The first rebate period […]
March 10, 2023

President Biden Releases Budget Proposal, Plan to Deal with Medicare Insolvency

The White House released President Biden’s $6.8 trillion budget request for the fiscal year 2024. The budget includes increased taxes for wealthier income brackets, enhanced tax credits and a plan to delay Medicare insolvency. As is normally the case with a president’s budget proposals, many aspects will probably not be taken up by Congress – […]
March 10, 2023

Major Insulin Manufacturer Announces $35 Cap for Certain Products

Drug manufacturer Eli Lilly & Company announced last week that it will be capping patient out-of-pocket costs for certain insulin products at $35 per month. The company’s announcement follows the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which instituted such a cap for Medicare beneficiaries. “While the current healthcare system provides access to insulin for […]