Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said a high number of ineligible claims contributed to a bottleneck in processing them and that legislative action is needed to deal with the high volume.

At a Senate hearing, Moderna CEO defended the price hike as the company anticipates added costs from shifting to a 10-dose vial to single doses as requested by pharmacies and doctors.

Analysts may take the new disclosures into account when assessing individual pay packages, said Rachel Hedrick.

Employers, faced with high costs in treating obesity-related chronic conditions, may want to consider the importance of providing access to the emerging weight loss medications, particularly with more options soon available.

The feds sued to halt the deal earlier this year, calling it anticompetitive because Change, which would be merged with UnitedHealth's data and consulting business Optum Insight, has access to data from insurer customers.

The agency has increased employer mandate penalties under the Affordable Care Act for non-compliant large employers (50+ employees) that fail to offer affordable health coverage to 95% of its staff.

Because of the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare will have the ability to negotiate lower prescription drug prices with manufacturers - and will release the negotiated fair prices for the first 10 drugs September 1.

The new law, which makes it illegal to "prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug" for performing an abortion, will take effect July 1.