By Staff Reporters
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A new set of rules from the Biden administration seeks to rein in private health insurance companies’ use of prior authorization – a byzantine practice that requires people to seek insurance company permission before obtaining medication or having a procedure. The cost-containment strategy often delays care and forces patients, or their doctors, to navigate opaque and labyrinthine appeals.
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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:
- The S&P 500 index rose 52.42 points (1.1%) to 4,958.61, up 1.4% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 134.58 points (0.4%) to 38,654.42, up 1.4% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite rallied 267.31 points (1.7%) to 15,628.95, up 1.1% for the week.
- The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) surged about 16 basis points to 4.024%.
- The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) fell 0.04 to 13.84.
The market’s strength continued to be driven by the biggest companies, while smaller names lagged. The small-cap Russell 2000® Index (RUT) fell 0.6% Friday and posted a drop of 0.8% for the week. In other markets, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) rose 0.8%, reaching its strongest level in nearly two months, amid expectations interest rates will remain elevated, which boosted demand for dollar-denominated assets, such as Treasuries.
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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Breaking News, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Experts Invited, Financial Planning, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Investing | Tagged: CBOE, COMP, DJIA, DXY, Health Insurance, NSDAQ, NYC, pre-certification, Prior Authorization, prior medical authorizations, RUT, S&P 500, TNX, VIX | Leave a comment »