Premiums could edge up an average of 5 percent for Indiana’s Obamacare plans
The Indiana Department of Insurance said it expects all 92 counties to be covered by the plans next year. The state has until Sept. 25 to approve them.
Insurance Regulators
Articles
HHS secretary Alex Azar hires Indy insurance exec in key advisory role
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a former Eli Lilly and Co. executive who was hospitalized twice this week, has hired Jim Parker, president and CEO of MDwise and a former longtime executive at Anthem Inc.
Anthem, Cigna shares rise after U.S. says it’s open to settlement
Investors appeared emboldened by remarks from a Justice Department lawyer Friday that the government was willing to hear settlement offers in its antitrust case involving the merger of the two insurers.
Struggling local insurer to close its doors after big losses
Indy-based Advantage Health Solutions, which recently racked up huge losses and laid off dozens of workers earlier this year, said Thursday it is shutting down its last line of business.
Top U.S. health official emphasizes need for insurer competition
The Obama administration’s top health official is promoting the importance of competition to insurance markets, as the Justice Department is poised to decide on the massive Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana merger proposals.
More jitters over the Anthem-Cigna deal
Federal regulators are giving the proposed $48 billion merger between health insurers Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp a hard look, and some analysts are hedging their bets.
New federal rules limit value of workplace wellness programs
The EEOC has decided that wellness programs must be voluntary and the associated incentives or discounts can’t exceed more than 30 percent of the cost of the employees’ health coverage.
Investors betting no on Anthem mega-deal
Lots of investors are betting health insurance giants Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. won’t ever make it to the altar—an outlook driven by concerns antitrust regulators or other obstacles will prevent consummating the $45 billion deal.
Anthem-Cigna mega deal might snag on Blue Cross
Anthem Inc. has used the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand names as a powerful tool on its way to becoming the nation’s second-largest health insurer. But those Blue brands now are a hurdle for Anthem’s $54.2 billion acquisition of Cigna Corp.
Indiana says insurers can’t reinstate canceled policies
The state insurance department said Wednesday morning that to do so would “create logistical chaos” and “destabilize” Indiana’s individual health insurance market.
State: It’ll be Christmas before we can talk to Obamacare website
Indiana officials don’t expect HealthCare.gov to be able to share individual account information with the state’s Medicaid computer systems until the end of the year.
Shutdown orders issued as Congress misses deadline
For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown Monday at midnight after congressional Republicans demanded changes in the nation's health care law and President Barack Obama and Democrats refused.
Bankers Life paying $10M fine following securities probe
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.
Employers face messy decision to drop health insurance
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.
Anthem settles suit involving 120K policyholders
Anthem Blue Cross, an affiliate of WellPoint Inc., has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of manipulating policies and forcing patients into higher deductible policies with fewer benefits.
Health insurers lose push to ease rate review
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.
Execs from WellPoint, peers meet to hone health-law lobby
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.
California judge bars Conseco Life from boosting rates
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Wednesday that Carmel-based Conseco Life Insurance Co. may not follow through with a plan to raise policy rates for more than 50,000 mostly elderly policyholders.
New company taking over troubled Standard Life
State Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson said agreements have been reached for the $1.7 billion in policies and financial obligations of Carmel-based Standard Life Insurance Co. to be assumed by Guggenheim Life and Annuity Co.
Rules mostly falling WellPoint’s way
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.