12 top healthcare companies by revenue FYI
“UnitedHealth Group is the top healthcare company by revenue, with the average revenue for the last four quarters hitting $333.5 billion.”
About Covid-19
WHO declares end to Covid global health emergency “The World Health Organization ended the Covid-19 global health emergency on Friday, saying it was time for countries to transition from treating Covid as an emergency to dealing with it as a disease that is here to stay.
The decision was made on the advice of a panel of independent experts, the so-called Covid-19 emergency committee, which met Thursday.”
Disease experts warn White House of potential for omicron-like wave of illness “The White House recently received a sobering warning about the potential for the coronavirus to come roaring back, with experts reaching a consensus that there’s a roughly 20 percent chance during the next two years of an outbreak rivaling the onslaught of illness inflicted by the omicron variant.
A forecast from one widely regarded scientist pegged the risk at a more alarming level, suggesting a 40 percent chance of an omicron-like wave.”
About health insurance/insurers
Cigna boosts guidance as it reports $1.3B in profit in Q1 beat “The Cigna Group rounded out earnings for the large national insurers Friday morning when it reported $1.3 billion in profit for the first quarter of 2023.
That's on par with the prior-year quarter, where the company reported $1.2 billion in profit, and with the fourth quarter of 2022, where Cigna also reported $1.2 billion in profit.”
Gaps in Medicare Advantage Data Limit Transparency in Plan Performance for Policymakers and Beneficiaries Read the entire report (or at least Table 1). While CMS seems to have control of many aspects of MA plans, a large amount of data is either not available or not being disclosed.
Medical Credit Cards and Financing Plans CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU REPORT. Some important highlights:
—Many medical credit cards offer people deferred interest, or springing interest, terms for a time period of between six and eighteen months. If someone has a remaining balance after the designated promotional period, they are charged all the interest that would have accrued since their original purchase date. These products are typically more expensive than other forms of payment due to the higher interest payments.
—People paid $1billion in deferred interest payments for these healthcare charges from 2018-2020. People used cards or loans with deferred interest terms to pay for almost $23 billion in healthcare expenses, and over 17 million medical purchases, from 2018 to 2020.
—From 2017 to 2020, the share of medical borrowing on deferred interest grew relative to other deferred interest borrowing. This is true across all ranges of credit scores.
—CFPB analysis indicates that, between 2015 and 2020, people incurred interest on 20 percent of their healthcare purchases when using deferred interest cards or loans. People with credit scores below 619 incurred interest more frequently, for about 34 percent of their healthcare purchases. In part, people with lower credit scores may have been more likely to incur interest because they were more likely to have shorter periods before they were charged deferred interest.
—Patients who should be eligible to receive reduced or free care through a financial assistance program or their insurance plan may instead be signed up for a medical card or loan. Many people would be better off without these products for two reasons: the financial burden can be higher and their ability to challenge an inaccurate bill is complicated when they are working through a third party financial institution.
—The terms of credit for medical credit cards and financing plans can vary greatly in terms of annual percentage rates (APRs), length of the special financing period, and other terms. The APR of the typical medical credit card is 26.99 percent; currently, the mean APR for all general purpose credit cards is approximately 16 percent.”
Comment: States have cracked down on exorbitant “payday loans;” they need to pay attention to these highly usurious and unethical credit cards.
About pharma
Acelyrin readies biggest biotech IPO so far this year with $540M upsized offering “The upsized public offering will now see the California biotech offer 30 million shares of common stock at $18 apiece. There will also be the option for underwriters to snap up a further 4.5 million shares at the same price, which could potentially boost proceeds to around $620 million.
It would mark a significant cash injection for a company that has already raised$408 million from private investors in recent years. The biotech’s backers have been attracted by izokibep, a small therapeutic protein inhibitor of IL-17A that Acelyrin licensed from Affibody and is in late-phase development in three immunological diseases.”
About the public’s health
Cigarette Smoking in the US Drops to Lowest Level Since 1965, CDC Says “Just 11.5% of Americans regularly lit up cigarettes last year, better than the 12% goal set by the US government’s Healthy People 2020 plan and the lowest level since 1965, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, about one in five adults reported using a tobacco product in 2021, nearly unchanged from the previous year, with e-cigarette use rising to 4.5%.”
Achieving Whole Health for Veterans and the Nation: A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Report A really good summary of the Academy’s publication: Achieving Whole Health: A New Approach for Veterans and the Nation. National Academies Press; 2023.
“Whole health is physical, behavioral, spiritual, and socioeconomic well-being as defined by individuals, families, and communities. To achieve this, whole health care is an interprofessional, team-based approach anchored in trusted longitudinal relationships to promote resilience, prevent disease, and restore health. It aligns with a person’s life mission, aspiration, and purpose.”
About healthcare IT
Community Health Systems sued for data breach affecting 1 million “Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems is facing a lawsuit for a January data breach that compromised the protected health information of 1 million patients…
The patient-led lawsuit, filed May 3 in the U.S. District Court of Tennessee, alleges that the breach happened as a result of the health system not implementing adequate security measures.”