The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will allow health insurers to offer premium reductions for individuals with 2020 coverage in the individual and small group markets when consistent with state law, the agency announced today.

The policy is effective for the rest of 2020 due to the COVID-19 emergency, CMS said. Under federal requirements, health plans in individual and small group markets usually cannot change their premiums after the start of the benefit year.

“Today’s action is just the latest in a series of flexibilities CMS has extended to health insurers to help them support their enrollees during this unprecedented time,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

Headline
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., and CMS Deputy Administrator and Director of Medicaid and CHIP Dan Brillman sat…
Headline
Flu and COVID-19 vaccination rates among all health care workers for the 2024-25 respiratory virus season was 76.3% and 40.2%, respectively, according to a…
Headline
A study published March 18 by Science Advances estimated that more than 155,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths were uncounted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers…
Headline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Feb. 19 released a report on the low use of COVID-19 antiviral drugs among individuals age 65 and older, a…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration today released two guidance documents; one related to low-risk wellness products (including certain wearable devices) and the…
Headline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dec. 11 released a report that found last year’s version of the COVID-19 vaccine was 76% effective in preventing…