CNO Financial Group Inc. has agreed to pay $9.9 million to settle allegations by regulators in four states that its Bankers Life subsidiary acted as an investment adviser and broker-dealer without proper state licensing.

Companies that drop insurance coverage could, without spending any more money than they are now, give workers an 11-percent raise or else help them save as much as $2,000 per year buying health coverage in one of the exchanges, IBJ calculations show.

U.S. insurers led by WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. failed to get federal regulators to change a rule in the 2010 health-care overhaul that triggers a review of any premium increases exceeding 10 percent.

Top executives from WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are meeting almost monthly with their counterparts from Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. in an informal lobbying alliance aimed at blunting parts of the health-care law, say sources with knowledge of the sessions.

Health insurers won fairly broad leeway under key rules suggested by state insurance commissioners that will govern what kinds of expenses count toward meeting a new federal threshold to spend at least 80 percent of premiums dollars on medical care.

The failure by state regulators to decide how much insurers must spend on patient care is scaring investors from health-plan stocks and complicating insurance company decisions.

The California Department of Insurance said Wednesday it approved a rate increase averaging about 14 percent for Anthem Blue Cross customers. The department also OK'd a nearly 19-percent increase for Blue Shield of California.

WellPoint may face the most threat from more aggressive reviews. The Indianapolis insurer is the leader in small-business and individual policies, areas that have seen the biggest increases in recent years.

A consumer watchdog group filed a lawsuit Monday against WellPoint's California subsidiary on behalf of policyholders, claiming they were pushed to take coverage with fewer benefits and higher deductibles.

The California attorney general has demanded documents from several health insurers, including Indianapolis' WellPoint, believing that their rate-setting and claims practices might be illegal.

Amid attacks from Democrats over high executive salaries, Angela Braly testified in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that big insurance-premium increases are the result of growing price tags for hospital care and pharmaceuticals.

President Obama's latest push for a health care overhaul could drive health plans around the country into insolvency, according to an insurance trade group.

State House insurance committee chair grills executives about WellPoint's 21-percent premium increase for individual policyholders in Indiana.

Three WellPoint executives will be on hand Wednesday morning to answer questions about premium increases on its individual policies, which have risen as high as 39 percent this year.

The Indianapolis-based insurer, preparing for Congressional testimony on proposed premium increases in California, says its earnings forecast is now less clear.