Firms’ faith in stock buybacks not always well-placed
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.
Health Insurance
Articles
Anthem: Global payments coming back
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.
Q&A
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.
WellPoint gets vote of confidence
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.
Maturing Chinese market gives WellPoint new prospects
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.
Self-funded plans draw small-firm interest
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.
Hospital systems adopt Starbucks-style service
Indiana University Health is the latest system to drill employees ranging from clerks to physicians in how to treat patients.
Health insurance costs spike worldwide
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 sees strong enrollment in big accounts
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.
WellPoint expects employer biz to stagnate
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.
Medicaid expansion could tax community health centers
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.
Daniels leads guvs’ health-care revolt
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 set for shakeout
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.
Judge’s ruling raises uncertainty for health care execs
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.
Execs from WellPoint, peers meet to hone health-law lobby
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.
WellPoint profit better than analyst estimates
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.
Q&A
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.
LAMKIN: Health care reform is opportunity to reorganize services
Indiana should take advantage of the opportunity to build a comprehensive exchange.
By wide margin, Anthem still city’s largest insurer
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s share of the Indianapolis area has leveled off, even though it still insures more than half the commercial market—or three times as much as its nearest competitor.
WellPoint’s New York rate hike to face scrutiny
WellPoint Inc. and other U.S. health insurers will have to provide justification for any increases to customers’ premiums of more than 10 percent next year, according to federal regulations published Tuesday.