The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially harmful to people of color in the U.S., as they are more likely to suffer financial hardship, extreme cases of the disease or death than the white population. Experts say the devastation to communities of color is the product of systemic racism — particularly a lack of access to insurance coverage and quality care — and the pandemic's economic consequences will make all of those problems worse, AIS Health reported.

According to a Sept. 15 report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Epic Health Research Network, people of color were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and to require a higher level of care at the time of diagnosis compared to white patients, and they also were more likely to be hospitalized and die from the novel coronavirus than white patients were.

Experts say a last-minute proposal by President Donald Trump to distribute $200 prescription drug credits to Medicare Part D enrollees on preloaded debit cards faces many unanswered questions and will be difficult to implement, especially in the short time before the Nov. 3 election, AIS Health reported.

Little is known about the drug credit plan other than what can be gleaned from public statements by the president and an unnamed HHS source cited by the Washington Post. The president announced the plan during a Sept. 24 campaign speech in North Carolina.

Health insurers will probably have lower health care expenditures in 2020 and 2021 than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis from Willis Towers Watson. However, the white paper emphasizes that substantial risk is still possible and says plan sponsors need to take proactive steps to blunt the future impact of deferred care, AIS Health reported.

The policy environment could change suddenly and dramatically depending on the outcome of California v. Texas, a suit that could lead the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and the presidential election.

The climate for payer mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has cooled substantially at a national level ever since the collapse of the proposed deals between Anthem, Inc. and Cigna Corp. and between Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. However, consolidation in the provider sector has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as such firms grapple with the rapid collapse of fee-for-service revenue, AIS Health reported.

The breakdown of Anthem's bid to acquire Cigna resulted in a public spat and dueling lawsuits over Cigna’s attempt to exit their agreement before exhausting the firms' option to appeal a federal ruling against the transaction. On Aug. 31, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that neither firm had to pay damages to the other over the failed deal.

A promised executive order that would tie drug prices to their costs in other countries has yet to emerge, although President Donald Trump has promoted the order as part of his re-election campaign. Meanwhile, payers and PBMs are continuing to push back against three executive orders the Trump administration issued in July with the intention of lowering drug prices, one of which would overhaul the Medicare Part D prescription drug rebate system, AIS Health reported.

"I think the purpose of these executive orders is to give the president some talking points going into the debates," says Avalere Health founder Dan Mendelson. He adds that, regardless of their purpose, the orders will not make a difference in the real world any time soon.

Health care industry insiders say that Amazon.com Inc.'s Aug. 27 deal to provide Halo fitness trackers to Sharp HealthCare indicates the retail and tech giant will make big bets on clinical and actuarial data analytics, AIS Health reported.

Sharp Chief Information and Innovation Officer Michael Reagin says that Amazon will provide the San Diego-based integrated plan and provider with about 500 of the wearable fitness trackers.