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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…