Anthem prez: Expect ‘crickets chirping’ on Oct. 1
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield President Rob Hillman expects a slow start to the Obamacare exchanges, with fewer than one-third of uninsured people buying coverage there.
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Insurance rates set for Indiana, other states under exchanges
With new health insurance markets launching next week, the Obama administration is unveiling premiums for 36 states, including Indiana, where the federal government is taking the lead to cover uninsured residents.
Anthem rolls out new bonus system for docs
The Indianapolis-based health insurer expects to pay, on average, $3.50 per month for every patient enrolled in one of Anthem’s commercial health plans.
Analysis: Obamacare exchanges will push Anthem’s premiums lower
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana expects the average premiums it charges on the health insurance exchanges being created by Obamacare to be about $60 per year less for each of its health plan members than they would have been without the law.
Board suggested busy Evans let go of AIT
Michael Evans was juggling two companies and two newborn twins when his board of directors suggested it was time for a new CEO of AIT Laboratories. He was replaced by venture capitalist Matt Neff on Monday.
Franciscan doubles down on accountable care
Franciscan St. Francis Health earned a $6.6 million bonus from the Medicare program for its success at keeping central Indiana patients out of the hospital and the emergency room. So the hospital system will expand its participation in so-called accountable care programs to all its Indiana territories.
WellPoint rolls out program with cost ceilings for procedures
Under so-called reference-based benefits, insured patients would have to pay the difference between procedure prices and maximums set by their employers. Several Indiana companies are considering using the tactic.
Feds mull covering Alzheimer’s test that uses Lilly’s Amyvid
The $3,000 test for the first time accurately identifies the signature brain plaques of the debilitating disease.
Obamacare rebates total $22.6M in Indiana
Indiana consumers are set to receive rebates that are 59 percent larger this year as Obamacare continues to force health insurers to refund premiums that exceed actual medical claims by more than 20 percent.
New WellPoint CEO Joe Swedish thrives on complexity
Joe Swedish, a career hospital executive, is now two months into his job at the helm of Indianapolis-based WellPoint, the nation’s second-largest health insurer. In his first interview since starting work, Swedish indicated he’s taking his time to learn the people and the culture of the vast organization he now leads.
Study rebuts hospitals’ argument on Medicare, rising costs
Rather than raising prices on private health insurers to make up for inadequate payments from the government, hospitals across the country have been raising prices just because they can, according to a new study.
IU Health to chop $1 billion off costs
Even though Obamacare likely will expand health insurance coverage to an extra 500,000 Hoosiers over the next few years, IU Health expects per-patient reimbursements to fall as the federal government, employers and patients all push back on sky-high health care costs.
Indiana’s health care transparency laws get failing grade
Indiana’s laws requiring hospitals to release price information are woefully inadequate, according to a report by two health insurance reform groups. Indiana was among 29 states to receive an "F" grade.
Crunching the numbers on Obamacare
The biggest changes from President Obama’s 2010 health reform law take effect nine months from now, so many Hoosier employers have started crunching detailed numbers to cost out their options.
Study: Indiana individual health-claim costs to rise
A study by the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts shows the biggest driver of health insurance premiums will rise by more than 67 percent for Indiana residents' individual policies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Insurers may prove choosy with overhaul exchanges
The leader of the nation's largest health insurer warned Thursday not to assume widespread participation from his company in part of health care overhaul's coverage expansion that unfolds later this year.
Health insurance changes daunting for Indiana employers
A portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring companies in 2014 to begin offering health insurance to more workers is causing a lot of anxiety.
Amerigroup chief emerges as a frontrunner for WellPoint job
WellPoint Inc. is still considering former Amerigroup Corp. CEO James Carlson among several finalists to become CEO. Statements and filings this month have fueled speculation among analysts and shareholders that Carlson has vaulted ahead of other prospects.
Anthem pulling out of Quality Health First
Since 2009, Indianapolis-based Anthem has doled out $14.5 million in bonuses to physicians based on their scores in quality reports generated by Quality Health First.
Fiscal cliff deal threatens Indiana co-op health plan
Last week’s fiscal cliff bargain in Congress dealt a potentially fatal blow to a new health insurance plan, called Remedy Indiana, that was set to launch this year.