Health Care Reform

Elevance Health has paid the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services more than $342 million to settle allegations that it had overcharged the Medicare Advantage program for years.

"The No Surprises Act was designed to protect patients from unexpected medical bills, not to increase health care costs," Catherine Gaffigan, president of health solutions at Elevance Health, said in a statement.

Individual and small group health plans faced losses in 2025 as medical claims continued to climb, accelerating a shift toward alternative benefit models.

Program managers argue that some of the strength is due to lingering problems with enrollment fraud.

The state has accused the company of increasing its revenue by underpaying out-of-network providers.

Growth in retail prescription drug spending is expected to be fastest at an average of 5.7% per year.