Telehealth has taken more hits lately than a piñata at a birthday party.

In April, UnitedHealth Group announced it was shutting down its Optum Virtual Care program. Days later, Walmart announced it would shutter both Walmart Health and Walmart Health Virtual Care.

And in July, Teladoc posted a net loss of $838 million in Q2. The drop was largely driven by an impairment charge of ~$800 million for BetterHelp, the virtual mental health platform it acquired in 2015, Fierce Healthcare reported. Executives attributed the decline to increased customer acquisition costs, among other factors.

But while telehealth might currently be down, it’s not out. There are still plenty of industry experts that believe in its value and usefulness to patients.

“Telehealth is definitely here to stay,” Kyle Zebley, SVP of public policy for the American Telemedicine Association, said. “I don’t think there’s any interest in yanking the US healthcare system back toward the pre-pandemic normalcy in terms of having very limited access to telehealth and virtual care services.”

Keep reading here.—CC

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For the first time ever, the US government has negotiated drug prices directly with manufacturers, thanks to President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The White House revealed the new drug prices on Thursday, the start of a promise to lower drug prices—and also the continuation of a long-lasting fight with the pharmaceutical industry.

The discounts, which will take effect in January 2026, target 10 drugs covered by Medicare Part D, which treats conditions such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and cancers.

Projected savings. The markdowns range from 38% on Pharmacyclics LLC’s blood cancer drug Imbruvica to 79% on Merck Sharp Dohme’s diabetes drug Januvia.

Medicare spent more than $56 billion on these drugs last year—about 20% of its annual total. People with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage spent $3.9 billion out of pocket on these drugs last year.

When these deals take effect, taxpayers are expected to save $6 billion on prescription drug costs and enrollees can expect to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs, according to a White House fact sheet.

Keep reading here.—CC

The number of people in the US without health insurance has been steadily rising since the official end of the Covid-19 public health emergency was declared in May 2023.

The uninsured rate rose to 8.2% (or roughly 27 million people) in Q1 2024 after falling to a record low of 7.2% in Q2 2023, CDC data shows. That low was largely thanks to the Medicaid continuous enrollment policy that allowed all beneficiaries to keep their coverage until May 2023, according to Daniel Polsky, a health economist and professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

Without the continuous enrollment policy, roughly 25 million people have lost Medicaid coverage, according to data from health policy research firm KFF.

Never fear: The increase in uninsured patients isn’t too concerning just yet, Polsky said.

“It shouldn’t have an impact on the financial well-being of providers [that] want to make sure that everyone who comes into their office gets the care they need,” he said.

Keep reading here.—MA