When it comes to health benefits, Hoosier employers are cheap
Lower wages, higher hospital prices and unhealthy lives force Indiana employers to charge more and give fewer health benefits to their workers.
Health Care Costs
Articles
Sticker shock hits insurance customers of Obamacare exchange
The prices health insurers charge Hoosiers on the Obamacare exchange will drop more than in any other state next year. But for most Hoosiers, that’s bad news. Lower average premiums statewide means smaller tax subsidies statewide to reduce the cost of Obamacare policies.
Lilly CEO: Drugmakers getting bum rap
Eli Lilly and Co. CEO John Lechleiter told Wall Street analysts recently that, while there have been “individual huge drug price increases,” the overall cost of drugs is rising very slowly and remains a small part of overall U.S. health care spending.
Soaring Rx costs lift firm’s prospects, job creation
Rx Help Centers assists employers and customers as they navigate through the confusing web of prescription drug discounts. Business is so good that the company hopes to add 250 workers by 2017.
Spiking drug prices punch holes in health insurers’ finances
Spending on prescription drugs has soared 451 percent this year at Indianapolis-based MDwise as new drugs for hepatitis C and cancer soar above $100,000 per patient.
Go figure: As patients’ anger over costs spikes, health care prices barely budge
Patients’ anger over high deductibles and high drug prices is spurring presidential candidates to respond—even as the actual prices of health care services are growing slower than at any time since 1990.
Novel approach to Alzheimer’s care set for Midwestern rollout
Dr. Malaz Boustani leads a 26-person team at Eskenazi Health that is showing the group's approach to health care can improve the mental health of both dementia patients and their care givers.
Hospital CEO: Telehealth could dampen future health care construction
Bryan Mills, CEO of the Community Health Network hospital system, said a recent pickup in health care construction could slow down if providers can successfully care for patients remotely via the Internet and phones.
GOP wanted consumer-driven health care; Obamacare made it happen.
Since President Obama’s health law passed in 2010, deductibles on employer health plans have risen nearly seven times faster than wages and nearly three times faster than premiums, leaving consumers exposed more than ever to the sky-high cost of care.
Hospital-owned docs send more patients to lower-quality, higher-cost hospitals
When hospitals employ doctors—which is now the norm in central Indiana—more of those doctors’ patients end up going to hospitals with higher costs and poorer quality, according to a new study.
Drug-price increases slow as benefits managers get tough
A new analysis shows attempts by drugmakers to raise prices are being wiped out in negotiations with managers of drug insurance benefits like Express Scripts Holding Co. and CVS Health Corp.
Community set to go whole hog on new value-based payments
CEO Bryan Mills has set a goal to make 75 percent of revenue—or $1.5 billion a year—be covered by value-based contracts—which means Community would be rewarded for keeping patients out of the hospital. A new venture is Mills’ strategy to get there.
Is Indiana’s lack of ‘narrow networks’ keeping Obamacare premiums high?
A recent study found the number of health insurers offering broad provider networks on the Obamacare exchange was higher than in all but 10 other states and suggests that so long as Hoosiers keep singing “Don’t Fence Me In,” they could keep paying more for health insurance.
UPDATE: Why insurance mega-mergers won’t launch wave of hospital hook-ups
Profits at most county-owned hospitals have grown by 100 percent to 400 percent over the past four years via partnerships with nursing homes that have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra federal money.
Venture-backed DNA testing firm loses round in court
Strand Diagnostics lost a key court battle on July 30 when a federal judge in Indianapolis granted summary judgment in favor of the Medicare program, which has refused to reimburse Strand for its test since 2012.
Costs of data breaches, just this year, outstrip subsidies to digitize health care
With this year’s bill estimated at $37 billion and counting, perhaps the sheer cost of cleaning up after IT security breaches at health care organizations will spur the industry to find a bandage for its hemorrhaging computer systems.
Financial planning especially tricky for those with special-needs children
Many parents of children with special needs have to choose between working to help cover added expenses or unemployment so they can tend to their child full time. Financial planning is vital for these families, parents and special-needs advocates said.
Anthem’s Indiana profits soar as Hoosiers cut medical spending by $1 billion
Anthem turned out unheard of gains in 2014, the first year of Obamacare’s new health insurance overhaul, as Anthem’s customers numbers held steady but their spending with hospitals and doctors plummeted.
Study shows Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug has small but lasting benefit
New data released Wednesday morning suggest that Eli Lilly and Co.’s Alzheimer’s drug has a modest but lasting impact on the memory-sapping disease. But analysts worry the impact is too small to be meaningful.
Indy-based health data firm snares $1.5M in VC round
Healthiest Employers LLC, which collects and measures corporate health information, plans to use the funds to drive sales of its analytics software.