Latest Health Insurance Headlines
All the headlines from our Health Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Wisconsin Denied Medical Loss Ratio Waiver
Feb 21 2012 // The federal government has rejected Wisconsin’s request to phase in a requirement that health insurers spent 80 cents of every dollar in premiums on medical care, one of the provisions of the Obama...
North Carolina Wins Delay on Medical Loss Ratio
Feb 21 2012 // Federal regulators last week allowed North Carolina insurers a one-year delay in meeting a benchmark requiring that more of each health insurance premium dollar to go toward medical services and less toward overhead and...
Compensation Freeze Comes to an End?
Feb 20 2012 // Agencies Report Salaries and Compensation on the Rise, Slightly It looks like the freeze may be over. For the first time since 2008, independent agency salaries rose in 2011, albeit only slightly. According to Insurance...
Long-time California Insurance Lobbyist Looks to 2012 Legislation
Feb 20 2012 // John Norwood is one of California’s best known legislative advocates for the insurance and financial services sectors. Norwood, principal of Norwood & Associates, has garnered recognition for his political work...
N.Y. Regulators Launch Audit of Rising Health Insurance Rates
Feb 16 2012 // The New York State Department of Financial Services has launched a wide-ranging probe of the accuracy of the data used by insurers and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to request health insurance rate...
American Westbrook Insurance Launches Private Health Insurance Exchange
Feb 14 2012 // Westchester, Ill.-based American Westbrook Insurance announced it has launched a national private health insurance exchange. The individual insurance exchange serves members in more than 40 states and offers products and...
Vermont Mulls Adoption of Health Insurance Exchange
Feb 13 2012 // Vermont lawmakers will decide this winter how their state will design a health insurance exchange. The federal Affordable Care Act requires states to create exchanges by 2014 or have the government do it for them. The...
North Carolina Insurers Still Hoping for Medical Loss Ratio Waiver
Feb 13 2012 // The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is going overtime as it decides whether to stick with federal standards that could mean $12 million in rebates for more than 58,000 North Carolina residents who buy their...
Regulation: Health Insurers Must Put More Premiums into Medical Care
Feb 9 2012 // The California Office of Administrative Law approved Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones’ request to make permanent an emergency regulation he issued last year that requires health insurers to put a larger share of...
$1.5M New West Deal Before Montana Insurance Commissioner
Feb 8 2012 // State regulators are examining a $1.5 million proposal by an Oregon insurer to take over a portion of Montana’s third-largest health insurance company as part of a government anti-trust settlement. Commissioner of...
Long-time California Lobbyist Looks to 2012 Legislation Affecting Insurance
Feb 6 2012 // John Norwood is one of California’s best known legislative advocates for the insurance and financial services sectors. Norwood, principal of Norwood & Associates, has garnered recognition for his political work...
Del. Regulator Offers Advice on Healthcare Options for Early Retirees
Jan 24 2012 // Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart expressed concern for soon-to-retire Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), many of whom will face the uncertain prospect of finding alternative health...
Pennsylvania Whistleblower Claims Hospital Medicare Fraud
Jan 24 2012 // A former northwestern Pennsylvania cardiologist says in a lawsuit a hospital improperly paid doctors who performed unnecessary procedures on patients, including two who died. The suit filed this month by Dr. Tullio...
Should Insurers Cover Experimental Treatments?
Jan 24 2012 // When your health insurance provider denies an experimental treatment or a high-cost drug, how much are you willing to pay for the care you believe you need? Barby Ingle, a former cheerleading and dance coach at Washington...
Health Insurers in Arizona Face Federal Scrutiny
Jan 18 2012 // Health insurance companies in Arizona are facing scrutiny from Washington as federal authorities have taken over reviews of rate increases of 10 percent or more from the state. The Arizona Republic reported that federal...
Murderer, Fake FBI Agent, Amateur Arsonist Enter Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame
Jan 17 2012 // A cash-strapped businessman torches his home then massacres five people to keep witnesses from testifying. A cop shoots himself to steal workers’ comp money. Two scammers stuff a coffin with a mannequin and cow parts...
Oklahoma Charges Former Agent with Embezzlement, Unlawful Insurance Sales
Jan 12 2012 // The Oklahoma insurance regulators announced that a Tulsa area man has been charged unlawfully selling health insurance to Oklahoma customers. The Oklahoma Insurance Department said Terry L. McCrackin, 64, was charged in...
Medicare Liens and Settlements Following United States v. Stricker
Jan 9 2012 // Reaching a settlement amount between the carrier and a plaintiff over a personal injury claim is sometimes the easiest part of a settlement where Medicare liens are involved. Medicare is a payer of last resort, which...
Consumer Group Hammers Mercury Rate Increase Filing in California
Jan 9 2012 // A California consumer group is challenging a rate hike bid by Mercury Insurance because the group claims the company is trying to pass along the costs of its political campaigning. But the insurer says those costs are not...
Oklahoma Commissioner Disappointed in Denial of MLR Waiver Request
Jan 5 2012 // Oklahoma’s top insurance regulator believes the medical insurance market is headed for “disruption” as a result of the medical loss ratio component of federal health insurance reform After...
