Department of Health and Human Services

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia denied Elevance Health's motion for a preliminary injunction over its Medicare Advantage star ratings. The court also denied the government's motion to dismiss the case.

CMS filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit against the May ruling that it had exceeded its authority on ten star-ratings measures, according to Clover's 10-Q and a Becker's report citing a July 21 court filing; the appellate docket shows the case opened July 22. CMS had meanwhile recalculated Clover's rating to 4.5 stars and begun recalculating other 2027 quality-bonus ratings.

Elevance Health sued the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over the recalculation of Medicare Advantage quality ratings. Elevance Health alleged that the recalculation did not align with the Clover Health ruling and affected $115 million in payments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and Small Business Administration announced actions for the American beef industry. The announcement identified the role of American ranchers in national security.

At an HHS roundtable, Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Elevance, Centene, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, the Blues and AHIP committed to six voluntary reforms across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care and commercial plans: fewer services subject to prior authorization in 2026, real-time electronic approvals and honouring other insurers' decisions by 2027. A year later, KFF Health News found insurers hedging on the promises.