Health overhaul benefits take effect with new year
After a troubled rollout, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul now faces its most personal test: How will it work as people seek care under its new mandates?
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Contract between UnitedHealthcare, IU Health to expire
IU Health has decided to still give patients the same “in network” co-pays and deductibles that UnitedHealthcare had negotiated under the expiring contracts, keeping patients’ costs the same until a new deal is reached.
With website on mend, Obamacare enrolls 2 million so far
The windfall comes at a critical moment for health care reform, which becomes “real” for many Americans on Jan. 1 as coverage through the insurance exchanges and key patient protections kick in.
Feds extend Obamacare deadline as customers rush site
The deadline to enroll in plans that begin Jan. 1 now is midnight Tuesday for most of the U.S. On Monday, healthcare.gov fielded nearly 50,000 simultaneous visitors, triggering a queuing system.
Analyst: WellPoint will lose money on Obamacare in 2014
Small business dumping, the uncertainty of Obamacare's exchanges, and the certainty of Obamacare's taxes will take a bite out of WellPoint's earnings next year. But company executives remain bullish on Obamacare's long-term impact.
Insurers give Obamacare enrollees more time for payments
Consumers who enroll in health plans through the new U.S. exchanges will get 10 extra days to pay their first premiums and still gain coverage effective Jan. 1, an insurance company trade group said Wednesday.
Indiana extends Healthy Indiana Plan through April
The Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday it is extending its Healthy Indiana Plan to participants who earn between 100 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
Costs of rare November storms, tornadoes top $1 billion
Tornadoes and thunderstorms that swept across the U.S. Midwest last month will probably cost more than $1 billion in economic losses, led by damage in Illinois and Indiana, according to insurance broker Aon Plc.
IU Health could fall out of network for UnitedHealthcare
IU Health, the state’s largest hospital system, and UnitedHealthcare, the state’s second-largest health insurer, have been unable to come to terms on a new set of reimbursement contracts.
Anthem, insurance trust create Obamacare alternative
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has teamed up with the Indiana Manufacturers Association to give small manufacturers an option to side-step one of Obamacare’s new community rating restrictions.
Survey: One-third of Hoosier workers in high-deductible plans
An annual survey by the benefits consulting firm Mercer found that, among 75 Hoosier employers, 34 percent of workers are already enrolled in consumer-directed health plans. And that number is only going to go up due to new Obamacare rules.
FELDMAN: Affordable Care Act stirs paradoxes for employers
In addition to managing the complexity and challenges of the Affordable Care Act, employers are assessing the law’s impact on their Worker’s Compensation program. The debate ranges from minimal influence to significant, with many experts hedging their bets with a wait-and-see approach.
TABLER: Market is driving trend toward ‘public health’
The movement toward a “public health” model may be the most important current trend in American health care. Because the trend is more a result of market forces than of the Affordable Care Act, repealing Obamacare won’t stop it.
Indiana says insurers can’t reinstate canceled policies
The state insurance department said Wednesday morning that to do so would “create logistical chaos” and “destabilize” Indiana’s individual health insurance market.
House GOP gets its say on insurance cancellations
Republicans renewed an assault on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and his credibility on Friday as they pushed toward House passage of a measure to let insurers keep selling health coverage that falls short of the law’s strict standards.
Longtime insurance watchdog ends 40-year-old newsletter
The Insurance Forum, an independent newsletter based in central Indiana and read by industry leaders and consumer advocates across the continent, has placed its last issue in the mail.
Obamacare has many health care insurers worried
The messy rollout of the insurance exchanges has made it hard for carriers to figure out what business will be like in 2014.
Obama allows customers to keep canceled policies
Bowing to pressure, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced changes to his health care law to give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled.
701 Hoosiers choose Obamacare plans at rollout
The administration says fewer than 27,000 people managed to enroll for health insurance last month in the 36 states relying on the problem-filled federal website for President Barack Obama’s overhaul.
State extends high-risk pool because of Obamacare woes
State officials announced Thursday that they will extend Indiana’s high-risk insurance pool through the end of January to accommodate Hoosiers who have been unable to enroll in coverage through the federal marketplace.