Insurance company key to Franciscan-American Health partnership
Hospital system’s health insurance unit has IT infrastructure that will allow physicians to participate in Medicare’s shared savings program.
Health Insurance
Articles
WellPoint agrees to pay for 3 children to get gene test
WellPoint Inc. said it will pay for DNA testing for three children to see if they have an inherited heart disease their father suffers from that often strikes without warning, reversing an earlier decision to deny coverage.
Q&A
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act cleared a big cloud of uncertainty for employers, but with just 18 months before the most significant provisions of the law kick in, many questions remain. Three benefits consultants from Indianapolis-based Gregory & Appel Insurance—Bob Miller, Mike Miles and Karl Ahlrichs—sat down to discuss what the future looks like for employer health benefits.
Analysis: How stocks will fare in ruling on health care law
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Affordable Care Act by the end of June. Here’s a roundup of how health care businesses would be affected under four different scenarios.
WellPoint rivals to keep parts of health care law
Some of the nation's biggest health insurers will keep some popular parts of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul even if the law fails to survive U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny later this month. Indianapolis-based WellPoint will wait for the court ruling.
Employers slow to act on health reform
Even though employers expect the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down at least some of the 2010 health reform law later this month, few are actually doing any contingency planning.
WellPoint: Consumers will control health insurance
The future of health insurance is lower profit margins and greater consumer control. WellPoint Inc. just bet $900 million on it.
Price hikes offset slower health care use
Newly available data from private health insurance plans show that price hikes by hospitals, doctors and drug companies have kept employer spending rising recently even as their employees and dependents have moderated their consumption of health care services.
Justices grill both sides in IU Health case
Much of the nearly 45 minutes of arguments and questioning on May 10 involved the justices and the lawyers for both parties trying unsuccessfully to apply various scenarios from the retail world of commerce to health care pricing.
State’s high court to weigh hospital bills
The Indiana Supreme Court this week will consider whether hospital billing practices should be put on trial. The state’s highest court will hear oral arguments Thursday in a case in which two uninsured patients have sued Indiana University Health for charging them much higher prices than it would have charged insured patients.
Quest to rein in health care costs gives momentum to on-site clinics
Health care firms have opened a flurry of clinics at Hoosier employers the past two years as businesses increasingly embrace the concept as a way to restrain employee health costs.
Set pricing helps boost diagnostic network’s growth
When the same MRI at one facility costs $600 and at another costs $2,200, Dr. Robert Gregori would call that a business opportunity.
Health insurers could pay $16.5M in rebates
Health insurance customers in Indiana will get an estimated $16.5 million in rebates this year, but the average amount received per person will be less than the national average and less than 3 percent of the total cost of coverage.
State’s high court to weigh in on lawsuit over IU Health billing
Indiana's hospital boards and trial lawyers are closely monitoring a lawsuit that accuses the state's largest hospital group of charging uninsured patients more for treatment than insured patients.
IU doc group becomes Eskenazi Medical
A group of 123 doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants have formed the Eskenazi Medical Group in order to focus on maximizing patient care and related bonus payments at Wishard Health Services.
Trend lines look good for WellPoint
More people have jobs and yet the use of health care remains stagnant—which should drive nice profits when WellPoint Inc. reports first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. The trends even have some wondering if consumer-driven health plans are finally starting to make a real difference in Americans’ health care spending habits.
Q&A
Sam Gibbs is president of eHealth Government Solutions, part of California-based eHealthInsurance Services Inc. The company, founded in 1997, pioneered the sale of health insurance over the Internet. Gibbs spoke about the options for public and private health insurance exchanges, including the state-based exchanges mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Is health care bubble about to burst?
Citigroup economist writes that U.S. health care sector "reminds us somewhat ominously of the bubble in housing finance" because public spending is fueling private profits.
Past support of health care mandate haunts Lugar
Like many Senate Republicans who have spent a few decades in Washington, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar was for the individual health care mandate before he was against it. Two decades later, the policy is a near heretical stance among the party’s conservative base, and it threatens to derail Lugar’s reelection bid.
COLVIN: Get ready for a perfect storm in Worker’s Compensation
Rates are set to rise as insurers increasingly note the link between older workers’ health and productivity.