Headline Roundup • June 24th, 2025
Coalition of of Health Insurance Companies Pledge Coverage Reform
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A coalition of health insurers in the US pledged to reform the prior authorization process, which has been criticized for delaying care and creating complications.
The Details: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined six key changes that participating insurers are promising to make. These include standardizing the electronic prior authorization process, reducing the number of services requiring authorization, honoring existing authorizations when patients change insurance in the midst of treatment, and other reforms. Health insurers in this group, including United Healthcare, Cigna, Humana, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, and Aetna, cover nearly 257 million Americans. Insurers hope to implement the reform by 2027.
For Context: Prior authorization is a policy that requires insurers to approve medical care before it’s covered. A survey by the American Medical Association showed 93% of physicians in 2024 reported delays in patient care while waiting for authorization from insurance companies.
How the Media Covered It: Fox News (Right bias) reported that Oz compared this group of insurers to the Biblical phrase, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” NPR (Lean Left bias) quoted a health policy professor at the University of Pittsburgh who brought up the proof-of-work Medicaid requirements proposed by the Trump administration, saying, “I don't think it would be unfair to say that we're replacing one set of burdens with another” if those requirements are implemented. NewsNation (Center bias) included RFK Jr.’s statement, “Pitting patients and their doctors against massive companies was not good for anyone.”
Revised by the AllSides staff (of humans) after a first draft from our custom AI. Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
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Roughly three-quarters of the nation's health insurance providers signed a series of commitments this week in an effort to improve patient care by reducing bureaucratic hurdles caused by insurance companies' prior-authorization requirements.
Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the new voluntary pledge from a cadre of insurance providers, who cover roughly 75% of the population, during a press conference Monday. The new commitments are aimed at speeding up and reducing prior-authorization processes used by insurers,...
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
When your doctor decides you could benefit from a particular test or procedure, your insurance company might require documentation to prove it's necessary before agreeing to pay for anything. Sometimes, this "prior authorization" process requires faxing paperwork, getting denials and going through an appeals process.
Insurers ramped up the red tape in recent years, drawing the ire of patients, doctors and state policy makers who have championed various fixes to rein it in.
The nation’s major health insurers are pledging to streamline the prior authorization process, which has long frustrated Americans by delaying care and creating complications.
“Patients should not be waiting because bureaucratic hurdles are blocking their medical treatment,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said at a press conference unveiling the pledge on Monday afternoon.
Participating health insurers are promising to make six key reforms, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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