Tara Bannow

1 week ago | statnews.com | Bob Herman |Tara Bannow

The Department of Justice has sued three of the largest Medicare Advantage insurers and three dominant insurance brokerages, alleging a scheme in which the health insurers bribed the brokers to steer older adults into their policies. The lawsuit targets CVS Health’s Aetna, Elevance Health’s Anthem, and Humana, which together cover nearly 40% of the Medicare Advantage market. The brokers named in the lawsuit are eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote.

2 weeks ago | statnews.com | Tara Bannow

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected hospitals’ argument that the federal government doesn’t pay them enough for treating low-income patients. The seven-justice majority instead sided with the Department of Health and Human Services’ interpretation of the law concerning disproportionate share hospital, or DSH, payments, which compensate hospitals for treating low-income patients. More than 200 hospitals brought the case, Advocate Christ Medical Center v.

2 weeks ago | statnews.com | Tara Bannow

Sutter Health has agreed to pay about $230 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit accusing the Northern California health system of anticompetitive behavior that raised costs for millions of Californians. Both sides agreed to settle the case, originally filed in 2012, on the eve of trial last month. At the time, the monetary amount hadn’t been finalized.

4 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Tara Bannow |Anil Oza

This story is republished from STAT, the health and medicine news site that’s a partner to the Globe. Sign up for STAT’s free Morning Rounds newsletter here. President Trump unveiled a wide-ranging executive order on Tuesday that aims to lower drug prices, boost transparency into fees charged by middlemen, and limit Medicare payments for outpatient services provided by hospitals. Much of the order would require further rulemaking or other actions to have any effect.

4 weeks ago | autism.einnews.com | Isabella Cueto |Tara Bannow |Anil Oza |O. Rose Broderick

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the country will soon know what is causing a rise in autism rates, but there is little sign he has a team in place yet. Nearly two dozen prominent voices from mainstream autism research and in the anti-vaccine world said they have not been approached by Kennedy, and have no details about the proposed studies. On Wednesday, the health secretary appeared at a press conference alongside Walter Zahorodny, director of a New Jersey autism surveillance study.