WellPoint Inc.’s Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut may constrain competition through contracts that require
that the insurer receives hospital discounts at least as favorable as any provided to a competitor.
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.
While insurers get the blame for rising health-care costs for consumers, surging fees from hospitals and the growing dominance
of such providers may be just as responsible for driving up expenses, according to a new study examining California's
market.
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.
California lawmakers grilled Anthem Blue Cross executives on Tuesday about their plan to boost individual insurance premiums
by as much as 39 percent, only to hear them blame the economy and a broken health care system.
Obama, seeking to break an impasse over health-care legislation, proposes a plan that includes the first Medicare tax on unearned
income such as capital gains and higher fees on drugmakers.
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.
At the heart of the debate is the question of what should be a fair profit for health insurers. WellPoint CEO Angela Braly
will likely be grilled on the issue when she appears at a Congressional hearing Wednesday.
President Obama will release a proposal to restart the health-care debate before a bipartisan White House meeting on Feb.
25, one day after WellPoint officials testify before Congress about steep rate increases.
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.
Individual insurance rate hikes like those recently planned for WellPoint Inc.’s California customers might be unlikely to
spread to those covered through their employers. But such hikes will affect a huge number of Americans — the 46 million
with no insurance at all.
Employer activism is on the rise when it comes to keeping hospitals honest in their negotiations with health insurers.
Executives at Indianapolis-based WellPoint say more employers are airing their displeasure when hospital
systems ask for double-digit reimbursement increases.
Massachusetts’ election of a Republican senator has put health reform legislation on life support. But for the health
care industry, reform is a reality that isn’t going to die.
Massachusetts’ election of a Republican senator has put health reform legislation on life support. But for the health
care industry, reform is a reality that isn’t going to die.
Joint resolutions in the state Legislature seek to amend the state constitution to block enforcement of provisions in the
federal bills that would require individuals to buy insurance and all but the smallest employers to help pay for it.
Health spending is growing slower than it has in 48 years, but whether health care reform will continue the trend is the
subject of debate here and around the country.
Legislation set to come out of Washington will not change the most fundamental problems of the health
care system, leaving it up to states, cities and companies to figure out what to do about it.
Exemption for not-for-profit health plans could saddle WellPoint with nearly $2 billion a year in new taxes.
Group presidents tell Indiana senators that the reform bill would expand dysfunctions of current health care systems.
