U.S. insurers led by WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. failed to get federal regulators to change a rule in the 2010 health-care overhaul that triggers a review of any premium increases exceeding 10 percent.
The problem is, too many people make unhealthy choices and the consequences of these choices become everyone’s problem.
Health reform could accelerate trend toward two tiers of care, with concierge services like Dr. Matt Priddy offers at the top and long waits and minimal attention at the bottom.
The ultimate test of whether buybacks are good deals for shareholders hinges on whether the price paid for the stock proves over time to have been a bargain or inflated.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s vision for accountable care organizations foresees doctors and hospitals shifting to global capitation payments and employers getting bigger discounts if they allow their workers access only to health care providers in a specific organization.
Susan Rider is an employee-benefits account manager at Indianapolis-based Gregory & Appel Insurance. On July 1, she will become president of the Indiana State Association of Health Underwriters. She spoke about the first-year impact of the 2010 health reform law and further changes to come.
Health reform will make health insurance a less-profitable business, but WellPoint Inc. got a vote of confidence from bond analysts because health-reform rules have turned out milder than expected and WellPoint’s financial performance has been particularly strong as the economy recovers.
Premiums for private health insurers in China are expected to rise to $90 billion by 2020 from $9 billion now, and WellPoint Inc. is angling for a big piece of that pie.
In the face of new health reform restrictions, expect more small employers to opt for self-funded health benefits, concludes a report this week from Indianapolis-based United Benefit Advisors.
Indiana University Health is the latest system to drill employees ranging from clerks to physicians in how to treat patients.
Think galloping health insurance costs are a problem unique to American employers? Think again. Medical costs paid by employer-focused health insurers rose by an average of 10 percent last year—identical to the United States.
WellPoint Inc. has already more than doubled the enrollment gains it expected in 2011 for national accounts that the health insurer administers for large employers.
Over the next five years, WellPoint Inc. expects the employer-sponsored insurance business to shrink slightly, forcing it to shift its focus to government-sponsored plans.
The president of the Indiana Primary Health Care Association wants to double the number of federally qualified community health centers in Indiana in the next five years.
Boy does Gov. Mitch Daniels have an ultimatum for President Obama: Wave off the health reform law or else I’ll do nothing to help while it wreaks havoc on Hoosier citizens.
Health insurance brokers, who match up employers with health insurance policies, are about to have a brighter light shone on the commissions they earn from insurers. The likely result: Commissions will fall or flatline and, eventually, fall away in favor of fee-based business models.
After a federal judge in Florida struck down the entire health reform law, investors shrugged. But the uncertainty for executives in health care companies increased.
Top executives from WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are meeting almost monthly with their counterparts from Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. in an informal lobbying alliance aimed at blunting parts of the health-care law, say sources with knowledge of the sessions.
Excluding special charges, WellPoint’s profit fell 2 percent to $524.7 million in the fourth quarter from $536 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. But earnings per share improved thanks to stock buybacks.
Chris Sears is a health care and employee-benefits attorney at Ice Miller LLP in Indianapolis. He spoke about how employers are sizing up health insurance reforms that hit in 2014, which would set up government-subsidized insurance as a new option for workers but also would penalize most employers if they stop sponsoring employee health benefits.
