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Congressional Republicans seem poised to move ahead with a “skinny” $65-$75 billion reconciliation bill that, importantly for investors, does not look like it will include: The ~$200 billion in additional defense funds, in part to…

With the House and Senate back in session this week after a two-week spring break, Washington’s focus will remain concentrated on the following issues:  The U.S.-Iran conflict and likely War Powers Resolution votes in both chambers.   The path for ~$200 billion in additional defense funding, $15-$25 billion in aid for farmers,…

FY27 Medicare reimbursement proposals for inpatient hospitals [HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS, MPT, muni-backed systems] largely met expectations for a smaller increase, versus FY26, with most changes appearing formulaic and math-based rather than policy-led. Despite…

In the past week, the House and Senate have introduced bipartisan legislation known as the MATCH Act, or the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware Act, which poses headline risk for ASML (ASML) and Tokyo Electron (TOELY). The legislative measure is designed to tighten U.S. export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment…

The recent social media verdicts in New Mexico and California raise the valuation question for investors about how far P/Es might fall for META (META) and (Alphabet) GOOGL assuming litigation risks continue and potentially intensifies. History’s answer is that the path isn’t linear. In different cases, it took the market time…

While we view today’s update of Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) WPS’s billing and coding article for hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) – omitting requirements that physicians bill using a -52 (reduced work) modifier – as directionally…

We estimate that iRhythm (IRTC) faces a 1%-2% growth headwind from a finalized local coverage determination (LCD) on ambulatory cardiac monitoring (ACM), likely to be released in the coming weeks. While we expect the company’s…

With government policy in flux and CY/FY27 payment updates coming into focus, we outline key 2Q potential policy catalysts and debates for health insurers and providers. While CMS’s improved CY27 Medicare Advantage rates offer a…

We had the following takeaways from last week’s conference call we hosted on the recent verdicts in the META and GOOGL trials in New Mexico and California with two lawyers who are very familiar with similar Internet cases. A transcript or audio recording of the call is available…

The final CY27 Medicare Advantage (MA) rate announcement, reflecting a net 2.48% YoY benchmark increase, landed within our expectations and alleviates some of the near term-pressure on MA insurers [HUM, ALHC, UNH, CVS, ELV, CNC]…