Drug manufacturers have announced 2026 price hikes for at least 350 brand-name prescription drugs. While the number of drug price increases rose from 250 in 2025, the average price increase is about 4%, similar to the 2025 increases. The affected drugs include vaccines for COVID, RSV, and shingles, as well as the cancer drug Ibrance.  At the same time, drug manufacturers announced cuts to nine drugs, including a Read More

The state of Indiana has filed suit against Indiana-based drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. for conspiring with other manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to artificially inflate insulin prices by more than 1,000% over the past ten years. The lawsuit, along with a similar suit filed against other insulin manufacturers and PBMs, comes after Indiana State Attorney General Todd Rokita says he has spent Read More

As states increasingly seek ways to rein in pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Alaska has enacted a law that allows the Alaska Division of Insurance to license and regulate PBMs. That law extends the Division’s equivalent licensing and regulatory powers to third-party administrators (TPAs), which help commercial, employer-sponsored self-insured, and government health plans administer benefits to plan Read More

Jackson Hospital has sued Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama in an Alabama bankruptcy court for $250 million. The Montgomery-area hospital claims that years of claims underpayment by the insurance giant have directly contributed to its insolvency.  Jackson Hospital, which has about 1,800 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2025 after defaulting on $60 million in bonds. Since its bankruptcy Read More

A California federal district court has approved a preliminary settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit against Aetna over coverage for fertility treatments for same-sex couples versus heterosexual couples. As part of the settlement, Aetna will cover artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization for same-sex couples in the same manner as it does for heterosexual couples. Aetna will also pay $2 million in Read More

The ERISA Industry Committee is backing a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) bill that would establish a fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for PBMs to put the interests of employer plan sponsors and participants ahead of their own. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and three bipartisan sponsors have proposed the PBM Fiduciary, Accountability, Integrity, and Reform Act, or the PBM FAIR Read More

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have proposed rules on price transparency reporting requirements. The proposed rules would amend existing rules under the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code.  The proposed rules would affect Read More

A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a federal district court should decide whether Aramark can proceed with its lawsuit against Aetna or must resolve the dispute through arbitration. According to the court’s ruling, the arbitration clause is sufficiently ambiguous to be subject to court review.  Aetna, a subsidiary of CVS Health, has been Aramark’s third-party Read More

The Commonwealth of Virginia has filed suit against various pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insulin manufacturers for allegedly violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. According to the lawsuit, the defendants, including Express Scripts, CVS Caremark, and OptumRx, as well as Sanofi-Aventis U.S. and Novo Nordisk, engaged in an insulin pricing scheme that artificially inflated insulin prices, deceiving Read More

Employers are increasingly facing lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for their voluntary benefit plans, which include products such as accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and cancer insurance. Since coverage is voluntary, employees pay most or all of the policy premiums, although employers deduct the premiums from their paychecks. Filed just before Christmas, the suits Read More