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.
The firestorm created this week by Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint’s spike in premiums could resurrect some parts
of
the languishing health reform bills.
Health insurer WellPoint is blaming the Great Recession and rising medical costs for its planned 39 percent rate increase
for some California customers of its Anthem Blue Cross plan. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius isn’t
buying the explanation proffered in a letter delivered to her Thursday.
The uncertainty of health care reform and a bad economy curtailed venture capital flow in 2009.
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.
Republicans in the Legislature have joined their counterparts in 25 other states in trying to prevent key aspects of reform
from taking effect in Indiana.
The time is coming when everyone will recognize that, as every structure in a city is entitled fire department services, so,
too, each individual should receive appropriate health care, whether or not he or she can pay for it.
Greg Pemberton, a health care attorney at Ice Miller LLP, discussed the biggest changes he expects to come out of the federal
health reform bills. “It’s not going to be business as usual,” he said.
With the stunning victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts election for U.S. Senate, Wall Street analysts
expect to see a "run" on health care stocks.
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.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. reportedly joined fellow health insurance giants to fund TV ads as insurers tempered their
support for reform.
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.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller says he’ll look at the constitutionality of parts of the federal health care bill, including
the so-called Nebraska compromise.
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.
Indianapolis health care heavyweights are among those spending $635 million, employing 166 former aides to key congressional
leaders and committees in health reform process.
The Senate has passed President Barack Obama’s landmark health care overhaul in a climactic Christmas Eve vote, extending
medical insurance to 30 million Americans. But the Senate’s bill still must be merged with legislation passed by the House,
and there are significant differences.
Congress is on the cusp of transforming health insurance—if it can pass a health reform bill that was losing popularity
late in the year.
Exemption for not-for-profit health plans could saddle WellPoint with nearly $2 billion a year in new taxes.
Landmark health care legislation backed by President Barack Obama passed its sternest Senate test in the pre-dawn hours early
Monday, overcoming Republican delaying tactics on a 60-40 vote that all but assures its passage by Christmas.
