Starting Jan. 1, Wal-Mart will no longer offer health insurance to employees who work less than an average of 30 hours a week. The move, which would affect 30,000 employees, follows similar decisions by Target, Home Depot and others.
Gains are needed on top of significant streamlining already in place.
The clinics could rearrange the system by forcing price quotes and demanding that providers follow-through.
WellPoint created an HMO joint venture with seven big hospitals in Los Angeles. Could it do something similar here? Quite possibly.
In the past two years, IU Health has laid off 935 people, halted construction of a major bed tower, sold off health clinics and decided to close its proton-therapy center. But there are three more years of changes to come, said CFO Ryan Kitchell.
Paying off medical debts over time is now a common experience for families with health insurance and becoming more so. And that is inducing big changes in the health care marketplace.
For Indiana employers with fewer than 10 workers, health insurance premiums have risen 11.5 percent, on average, from 2001 to 2013. That ranked second-highest among all states.
As local hospitals try to offer package deals with upfront prices on joint replacement surgeries, they're struggling with the reality that patients' other health conditions can significantly increase their cost of care.
A new study finds that Obamacare boosted enrollment in Indiana’s individual insurance market significantly over what it would have been without the law, but also caused premiums to spike.
Conservatives, after waging war on Obamacare, including its large expansion of Medicaid, are starting to try to propose alternative, conservative ways to achieve its key goals.
Companion Diagnostics Inc., a biotech company that relocated to Indiana from Connecticut in 2010, has entered bankruptcy reorganization while it tries to develop a therapy for inflammation.
Indiana does not appear to be enjoying the rest of the nation’s slowdown in health care spending. Year-to-year growth in Indiana hit 6 percent in 2012 versus 4.5 percent for the nation.
Indiana has 58 percent more nursing homes per resident and spends an extra $1 billion per year on care in nursing homes than the average for the rest of the country.
Anthem patients in five U.S. cities, including Indianapolis, spent $220 less per MRI scan after Anthem told them of lower-cost facilities. In response, hospital-owned MRI facilities cut their prices.
Franciscan Alliance, which operates three hospitals in the Indianapolis area, is seeing fewer patients this year but is making more money due to expense cuts.
State and local governments hand out $921 million per year to entice business to add jobs. The Medicaid expansion is estimated to cost no more than $279 million per year.
In two to three years, primary care clinics could be popping up in Walmart stores in rural Indiana while most rural Indiana hospitals will offer little to no inpatient services. That’s dramatically different from what we’re used to.
Gov. Mike Pence thinks his HIP 2.0 plan would reform Medicaid in line with conservative principles. To the extent the Obama administration agrees, that’s the biggest hurdle to get the plan approved.
WellPoint saw 218,000 members of its health plans disappear because their employers ended their group plans. Other insurers, however, say small employers are ending their plans more slowly than expected.
Indiana University Health fell off U.S. News’ honor roll of the nation’s top 1 percent of hospitals. Because of Obamacare and other trends, perhaps IU Health should be happy about that.
