Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Sector

Health insurers are asking state regulators for a median 14% premium increase on small business health plans next year. According to healthcaredive.com, an analysis of 2027 rate filings across all 50 states by health policy research group Kaiser Family Foundation shows most carriers requesting hikes between 10% and 20%, with six seeking increases above 30%. Insurers cite surging utilization, rising medical prices, and costly GLP-1 specialty drugs as the core drivers pushing healthcare spending up at its fastest pace in over a decade. Additionally, UnitedHealthcare subsidiaries Oxford Health Insurance and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York added 0.8% to their rate requests due to adverse arbitration outcomes under the No Surprises Act of 2020. Higher premiums force small employers—defined as firms with fewer than 50 workers—to absorb the costs, cut coverage, or migrate to level-funded plans that bypass Affordable Care Act benefit mandates. Small business health enrollment has already dropped.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for CLiK Extra wound spray to prevent New World screwworm infestations in livestock and captive wildlife. Sponsored by Indianapolis-based Elanco US Inc., the topical suspension target species ranging from cattle, sheep, and swine to wild bison, elk, and bighorn sheep. The treatment is not FDA-approved, but the emergency declaration allows immediate over-the-counter distribution. Rather than killing live larvae, the active drug dicyclanil acts as an insect growth regulator, halting larval development before flesh-eating parasites cause tissue damage. Farmers and wildlife managers apply the spray at the time of open wounds, birth, or husbandry procedures like shearing, castration, and ear tagging. It does not treat existing infestations. The authorization stays in effect until the HHS Secretary terminates the emergency declaration.

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center reached a settlement with the Department of Justice over pediatric gender-affirming care, agreeing to set aside $500,000 for patient remuneration alongside an unspecified fine, statnews.com reports. The hospital stopped providing gender-affirming care to patients under 19 last summer under federal pressure. It will now continue that policy indefinitely. The DOJ is actively extracting operational concessions across healthcare providers. In a parallel settlement released this week, Texas Children’s Hospital agreed to maintain a confidential "Break the Glass List" of patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria for 10 years, updating the record monthly without removing any individual. The Connecticut agreement requires no detransition services, but it establishes a financial precedent for federal investigations into pediatric clinics. The DOJ continues to press other hospitals for confidential patient data under similar mandates.