Dear John,

Earlier this week, Health Affairs released an ahead-of-print article from Sean P. Keehan and coauthors at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reviewing national health expenditure data for 2024–33.

This week, health insurance companies in the U.S. announced that they agreed to begin work on reforming prior authorization policies.

For Flashback Friday, let's take a look back at papers published with a focus on the topic of prior authorization reform.

Clearing The Crux: Five Paths To Achieve Health Policy Change In 2025

Michael J. Alkire (April 2025)

Prioritize Prior Authorization Reforms In Medicare Advantage

Molly T. Turco and Meena Seshamani (February 2025)

AI And Health Insurance Prior Authorization: Regulators Need To Step Up Oversight

Carmel Shachar et al. (July 2024)

Reframe The Role Of Prior Authorization To Reduce Low-Value Care

A. Mark Fendrick (July 2022)

Quantifying The Economic Burden Of Drug Utilization Management On Payers, Manufacturers, Physicians, And Patients

Scott Howell et al. (August 2021)

Published Today

US Health Spending Projections Back on the Rise w/ Michael Chernew

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Michael Chernew from Harvard Medical School to discuss the recently released National Health Expenditures Projections for 2024–33 from the Office of the Actuary (OACT) at CMS.

HHS Finalizes ACA Marketplace Rule, Part 2: Income And SEP Verification, ‘Failure To Reconcile,’ And More

Katie Keith

part of our Health Policy At A Crossroads series

Congress Should Remove The Rare Disease Carve-Out From Medicare Drug Price Negotiation, Not Expand It

Helen Mooney et al.

The Science Of Keeping Us Safe

LeQuandra S. Nesbitt

part of our Health Affairs Reads series

Supreme Court Wrap-Up

Join Health Affairs on July 9 for an exclusive Insider virtual event discussing health and health care policy decisions that are expected in the closing days of the Supreme Court’s 2024-2025 term.

Sara Rosenbaum will moderate a discussion of the Court’s decisions and their implications with a panel of experts, including William Sage, Barak Richman, and Renee Landers.

If you aren't an Insider, become an Insider today to get access to exclusive events, trend reports (including our recent report on AI), and premium newsletters.