Evolving technology, increasing threat vectors, and growing attacker sophistication have continued to drive up both the frequency and severity of cyber incidents, resulting in an ongoing rise in cyber insurance claims and subsequent underwriting losses. Amid these market conditions, most policyholders experienced higher cyber insurance rates throughout 2022. In addition to increased premiums, insureds have…
DECEMBER 6, 2022 Anna Sutton was shocked when she received a letter from her husband’s job-based health plan stating that Humira, an expensive drug used to treat her daughter’s juvenile arthritis, was now on a long list of medications considered “nonessential benefits.” The July 2021 letter said the family could either participate in a new…
JANUARY 10, 2023 [UPDATED on Jan. 11] Controlled substances became a little less controlled during the pandemic. That benefited patients (for their health) and telehealth startups (to make money). Some potentially addictive medications — like buprenorphine and Adderall — are now far more available online to patients because of regulatory changes. Given the scarcity of…
DECEMBER 7, 2022 Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people infected with covid-19 from being hospitalized or dying, and it may even reduce the risk of developing long covid. But the government plans to stop footing the bill within months,…
JANUARY 4, 2023 OKLAHOMA CITY — By the summer of 2021, Phil Maytubby, deputy CEO of the health department here, was concerned to see the numbers of people vaccinated against covid-19 slipping after an initially robust response. With doubt, fear, and misinformation running rampant nationwide — both online and offline — he knew the agency…
NOVEMBER 18, 2022 ELKO, Nev. — When Elko County commissioners rejected a $500,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that could have helped the county create a health department or health district, Kayla Hopkins pleaded with them to reconsider. Hopkins, who has lived for nearly nine years in the sprawling rural county…
NOVEMBER 9, 2022 When Josephine Cabrera Taveras was infected with covid-19 in the spring of 2020, she didn’t anticipate that the virus would knock her out of work for two years and put her family at risk for eviction. Taveras, a mother of two in Brooklyn, New York, said her bout with long covid has…