Pennsylvania’s efforts to restore competition to the provider and insurance markets in the long-standing battle between University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Highmark Health overcame mounting challenges and finally concluded with an unprecedented 10-year consent decree. The Source closely tracked the case as it unfolded over the past several months. In this post, we take a look back at the case’s long and winding road, which included three stops at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, leading up to the new truce.   It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again It all began in …

As California begins its 2019-2020 legislative cycle, we look back at the 2017-2018 bills that will affect California health care costs and markets. Previously, we mentioned that last session’s health care bills coalesced around four themes: targeting high costs of prescription drugs, attempting to implement single payer, regulating competition, and limiting high health costs. In Part 1 of our review, we covered how the legislature banned pharmacy gag clauses and limited out of pocket expenses but failed to implement single payer. This time, we’ll look at 2017-2018 bills that sought …

Within the past few months, federal agencies passed two major healthcare regulations that could have significant consequences to the healthcare market. The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule on Association Health Plans (AHPs) that expands the definition of “employer” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued a final rule that expands access to short-term, limited-duration coverage plans (STLDs). The two plans should not be conflated with each other as they offer health insurance coverage …