"The new law benefits qualified employees of Illinois employers with more than 50 employees and took immediate effect ... The Amendment limits the benefit to those who are qualified to participate in a 'Funeral Honors Detail,' an honor guard detail provided for the funeral of any veteran in compliance with federal regulations."  MORE >>

"With the PHE-era federal waivers expected to end on December 31, 2025, and state laws increasingly diverging from these PHE-era exceptions, the legal framework for telehealth and tele-prescribing is entering a period of rapid change and heightened complexity."  MORE >>

"The provision was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025, but employers can now make the benefit a permanent part of their educational assistance programs."  MORE >>

"[T]he court found that MetLife reasonably determined that Troy's coverage terminated six months after he ceased active work, as defined by the plan. The court emphasized that Cleveland-Cliffs' support of the claim did not bind MetLife or override its policy interpretation.... [T]he court found no evidence that MetLife was even aware that Troy's coverage had lapsed, as Cleveland-Cliffs had continued paying premiums and apparently misinterpreted the policy. Without notice of the lapse, no duty to notify of conversion rights had yet been triggered on MetLife's part." [New v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, No. 24-0212 (S.D. W.Va. Aug. 7, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Since 2022, health plans have been required to release machine-readable files disclosing negotiated rates of healthcare services with providers. Hospitals are also required to release the costs of shoppable services. Data analytics firm Trilliant Health ingested UnitedHealthcare and Aetna transparency files from February to April 2025 to create a new report. Now, those massive swaths of information are slowly becoming more actionable for employers[.]"  MORE >>

"[The authors] study how couples in the Medicare Part D program choose an insurance plan. Over 70 percent of enrollees choose the same plan as their spouse. Even among those with differing healthcare needs, well over half do so. Discrete-choice models suggest beneficiaries value being on the same plan as their spouse at over a thousand dollars per year.... Joint plan choice contributes modestly to overall overspending, but increases costs substantially for the couples with different cost-minimizing plans."  MORE >>

"Over the past decade, the electronic health record (EHR) market has become increasingly consolidated, with the majority of care delivery organizations now using one of two vendors ... This consolidation creates a 'single-point-of-failure' tail risk for cybersecurity ... Given that reversing consolidation is unlikely due to high EHR switching costs, it is critical that policymakers establish safeguards that ensure robust protections for patients' sensitive data.... Sustained investment in regulatory oversight and continued partnerships between policymakers, care delivery organizations, and EHR vendors are essential to contain the catastrophic risk involved from this ongoing market consolidation."  MORE >>

"[F]ederal employees, policy experts and front-line workers warn that suspending the rules and cutting enforcement funding ... could mean longer waits for help when patients challenge insurance decisions, fewer investigations of insurers and employer health plans over possible violations of federal mental health protections, and more people going without care they're legally entitled to."  MORE >>