Recent Obamacare developments (ACA proposal, House committee subpoenas, and OSCR’s earnings) reinforce this market’s durability and clear directional shift toward more-streamlined, lower-cost coverage and greater encouragement of enrollees to be more involved in their healthcare,…

With both the House and Senate are in session this week, we focus on a few developments we believe will be in focus in Washington this week:  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding expiration and why we view the risk of a prolonged shutdown as low,…

Despite renewed congressional discussions around reconciliation, we continue to believe the most likely outcome for defense spending is a modest increase through the regular appropriations process, not a large, one-time infusion tied to the budget…

Cigna’s (CI) proposed settlement with the FTC over antitrust allegations regarding its PBM pricing, rebating and formulary practices around insulin likely establishes the basic framework that UNH and CVS will have to match to resolve…

We view CareDx (CDNA) as having potentially asymmetric downside risk going into the final MolDx local coverage determination (LCD) on organ transplant rejection, which we would expect to be released in the next 1-2 months…

The recent public clash between CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) over Medicare fraud has renewed questions about whether the hospice industry [CHE, BTSG, PNTG, ADUS, AVAH, UNH, private Elara Caring…

Both the House and Senate are in session this week, with congressional leaders especially under pressure to resolve the ongoing funding lapse. We focus on five key developments we believe matter most for the markets and Washington this week:  The partial government shutdown…

We continue to expect only a very short government shutdown, as negotiations intensify ahead of the January 30 (tomorrow) funding deadline, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the White House reportedly in active discussions to resolve the impasse over the…

CMS’s negative surprise to Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers [HUM, UNH, ALHC, CVS, ELV, CNC] – which is also likely to spill over into weakness among insurers less or not exposed to this market [MOH, OSCR,…

There is now a real possibility of a short, over-the-weekend partial government shutdown at the end of this week, with six of the 12 appropriation bills having been signed into law, meaning those agencies will remain open, and current funding running out on Friday, January 30. After this…

CMS’s update this morning – indicating that CPT 64568 is not covered for obstructive sleep apnea under any national coverage determination (NCD) – is in keeping with the view we articulated just two weeks ago,…

While UNH’s announcement this morning that it will rebate its expected 2026 ACA profits has drawn the most attention – and may pressure other Obamacare insurers [ELV, CI, HUM, CNC, OSCR, MOH] to make similar…

The latest draft of the government spending bill, released early this morning, presents an even more manageable policy outcome for pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) [UNH, CVS, CI, CNC, ELV, HUM] than previously expected; it revives…

The bipartisan, bicameral FY26 HHS appropriations bill text released this morning is largely consistent with our expectations, with incremental upside for life science tools (LST), diagnostics, and clinical labs. More specifically, the legislation – which…

With the House in session this week, but the Senate out, House leaders are expected to continue work on FY2026 appropriations before the Jan. 31 deadline, and a short-term continuing resolution (CR) likely being needed…