Medicare Advantage plans continue growing in their attractiveness to seniors with their expanded benefits and higher quality of care. According to an industry group, the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), there are several positive trends for MA plans that are likely to continue. They offer a high quality of care Medicare rates MA plans on a "star rating" basis, with one star representing the lowest quality and five stars being the best. When the rating system began, about a quarter of MA members were in a plan rated four stars or higher. Eight years later, more than three-quarters were…

Drugmakers increased more brand-name list prices this January than in any other January in the past 10 years.  The month is marked by drug price increases every year, but a review by the nonprofit 46brooklyin found that pharmaceutical companies had pushed through 929 price increases in the first 25 days of the year. That's more than the 737 price hikes they made in all of January 2020. 46brooklyn also examined the top 25 drugs by gross spending in Medicare Part D and found that the pharmaceutical companies had increased the prices of 20 of them by an average of 4.3%…