OBEIME: Poor, uninsured won’t monopolize resources
Myth prevents policymakers from attacking real problem of distributing funding.
Medicare
Articles
WellPoint sees $100 billion ‘duals’ market as care shifts
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. sees a $100 billion market in the states it serves to provide managed care for poor, elderly patients in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Hospitals push preemptive care with special programs
Hospitals around Indianapolis and the nation are expanding programs to help people before they become patients. They are trying to teach cooking as well as treat cancer, to do social work as well as do surgery.
Study: Indy hospitals charge ‘excess’ prices
The Big 3 automakers spent 35 percent more in the Indianapolis area to provide health care for workers and non-elderly retirees than they did in other auto-heavy cities—and two-thirds of that difference can be blamed on “excess prices” by Indianapolis hospitals.
Rating doctors and other health care providers
A new onslaught of Medicare data might shine more light on providers, but tricky questions abound.
WellPoint, other insurers profit from health law they oppose
Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul. But profit margins at the companies have widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.
Franciscan group picked for model accountable care program
The Indianapolis-based partnership is among 32 in the U.S. chosen for a model program designed to provide more coordinated care for people served by Medicare.
Franciscan among Medicare’s first accountable care groups
Franciscan Alliance’s Indianapolis-area hospitals, along with more than 700 physicians, have been named one of the nation’s first 32 accountable care organizations.
UnitedHealth to acquire Medicare insurer XLHealth
UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it will acquire XLHealth Corp., a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members. Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. had been considering a possible acquisition of the company.
WellPoint eyes $1.5 billion deal for XLHealth
Offers for XLHealth, a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members, may value the company at $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
Q&A
As an Eli Lilly and Co. lobbyist in Washington, D.C., Jay Bonitt is hoping the Congressional “super committee” charged with trimming the federal budget doesn’t turn to the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, to do so. Bonitt, Lilly's vice president of federal affairs, said the program is under budget and helps spur drugmakers to further innovation.
Deficit committee could bite CNO
Medicare supplement policies are reportedly one of the targets of Congress’ special deficit-reduction committee—and that’s not good news for Carmel-based CNO Financial Group Inc.
Medical supplier Hill-Rom makes $42M fraud settlement
Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., a medical-equipment company based in Indiana, agreed Tuesday to pay nearly $42 million to settle a government lawsuit. The government had accused the company of knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare from 1999 to 2007.
Missouri health care advocates decry Indiana contractor
Indianapolis-based SynCare LLC, hired to determine the eligibility of Missouri Medicaid patients for in-home care, has "been a complete disaster from the beginning," statewide health care advocates charge.
State appeals injunction blocking abortion law
Indiana's attorney general has appealed a judge's decision blocking part of new abortion law that took away some of the public funding for Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
State gets week to respond in Planned Parenthood case
A federal judge on Friday gave the state of Indiana a week to respond to the Obama administration's decision siding with Planned Parenthood of Indiana in an attempt to block the state's new abortion funding law.
Feds support Planned Parenthood in defunding case
The U.S. Justice Department entered the court battle over a tough new Indiana abortion law that disqualifies Planned Parenthood of Indiana from the Medicaid program, siding with the organization in its request Thursday for a court order blocking the statute as unconstitutional.
WellPoint pays big to tap fast-growing Medicare market
Analysts raised their eyebrows at the $800 million reportedly paid by WellPoint Inc. to acquire a West Coast Medicare plan, but with the commercial health insurance business stagnating, Medicare is vital to WellPoint’s future growth.
WellPoint paying almost $800M for CareMore
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. agreed to acquire CareMore Health Group to expand Medicare coverage in California, Arizona and Nevada. The insurer paid almost $800 million, according to people familiar with the deal.
Feds review Indiana law targeting Planned Parenthood
Federal officials said Monday they're taking a hard look at a new Indiana law that withholds some public funding for Planned Parenthood of Indiana, a development that could cost the state some of its Medicaid funding.