Biography for Dori Zweig

Dori Zweig is an Associate Editor for FierceHealthPayer. Prior to joining Fierce, she worked at SAGE Publications as an Editorial Assistant. She’s held internships at various publications around Washington, D.C. - National Geographic and the Washingtonian magazine - and holds a BA in English from Gettysburg College. Dori lives in D.C., enjoys wandering the Mall when it’s tourist-free, Cherry Blossom season, running and reading. She can be reached at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @HealthPayer. 

Articles by Dori Zweig

Ruling could trigger new Supreme Court review of contraceptive mandate

The Affordable Care Act may be heading back to the Supreme Court. A U.S. Court of Appeals in the 8th Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri, ruled this week that the ACA unlawfully burdens religiously affiliated employers by forcing them to help cover the costs for certain contraceptives despite being able to opt out of paying for them.

What went wrong with Iowa's Medicaid expansion

Iowa's plan to expand the state's Medicaid program has not gone smoothly. And now, state officials plan to scrap the program all together. 

 

Cigna CEO Cordani: Mergers will increase choice, not decrease affordability

In light of Anthem's deal to acquire Cigna, as well as Aetna's planned acquisition of Humana, Cigna CEO David Cordani is sticking up for the recent consolidation through the industry.

Medicaid expansion tied to drop in uninsured hospital discharges

Before implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the number of Medicaid and uninsured hospital discharges in states that both expanded and did not expand Medicaid changed in a similar pattern each quarter. But beginning in 2014, new trends indicate that coverage expansion may lead to decreases in uncompensated care for the uninsured.

Feds solidify position on employees' max out-of-pocket healthcare costs

Federal regulators have reiterated the maximum out-of-pocket amount employers can require employees to pay before their healthcare coverage begins: $6,850 for single coverage and $13,700 for family coverage. 

Google Capital invests $32.5M in Oscar

Google Capital has invested $32.5 million in Oscar, the startup health insurance company's CEO Mario Schlosser tells the Wall Street Journal. Now, Oscar is valued at $1.75 billion, up from $1.5 billion as of April.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan settles one suit, but faces more litigation

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan settled a lawsuit with Aetna, but must now resolve another with Health Alliance Plan of Michigan. Both lawsuits deal with charging agreements with various Michigan hospitals. 

OIG: Government did not properly train contractors who built Healthcare.gov

Public employees hired to create and build Healthcare.gov were not trained or managed properly to successfully complete their duties, according to a federal audit.

The costly effects of charging seniors more for monthly premiums

Under the Affordable Care Act, individuals who are 64 and older cannot be charged more than three times as much as 21- to 24-year-olds for the same plan. Many critics believe this 3-to-1 ratio discourages younger enrollees from purchasing plans and have thus proposed increasing the ratio to 5-to-1. But while 5-to-1 rate banding, as it's typically called, would insure more young people, federal health spending would increase and nearly 400,000 older people would lose coverage.

Sanders leads push for Medicare to negotiate drug prices

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently introduced legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies, which if enacted, could have major implications for both public and private payers.