Latest Health Insurance Headlines
All the headlines from our Health Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Cigna Says Express Scripts Acquisition Passes Antitrust Review
Sep 17 2018 // Health insurer Cigna Corp.’s $52 billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co. has passed U.S. antitrust scrutiny, the companies said on Monday, allowing them to proceed with a...
3 New Insurers OK’d to Do Business in Arkansas
Aug 30 2018 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has approved three new insurance companies to conduct insurance business in that state. Authority was granted to West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. (WBM) of West Bend, Wisconsin, to...
China’s Anbang Weighs Sale of Hexie Health Insurance: Sources
Jul 16 2018 // Anbang Insurance Group Co. is weighing a sale of its Hexie Health Insurance Co. unit as the troubled Chinese firm reviews its assets for possible divestment, according to people familiar with the matter. The insurer is in...
Canadian Health Insurers Reluctant to Provide Cover for Medical Marijuana
Jul 13 2018 // Sun Life Financial, Canada’s No. 2 insurer, recently started covering medical marijuana in its Canadian health insurance plan – more than 17 years after the country first legalized it. The coverage, which requires...
Some Health Insurers Say They’ll Be Squeezed by Obamacare Subsidy Freeze
Jul 9 2018 // Affordable Care Act insurers are facing a fresh round of uncertainty that could drive up premiums or push companies to stop offering coverage through the law, after the Trump administration’s latest move to cut off...
Modi’s Plan to Provide Health Insurance to Half a Billion Indians Hits Serious Hurdles
Jul 5 2018 // Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to provide health insurance to half a billion Indians — a mass of people larger than the entire population of South America — before he seeks a fresh mandate next year...
How Workers’ Compensation Outpatient Costs Compare Across States by Fee Regulation
Jun 29 2018 // Hospital outpatient payments were higher and growing faster in states with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations or no fee schedules, finds a study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) that compares 35...
How Insurance Plans Contribute to Opioid Epidemic: Johns Hopkins Study
Jun 22 2018 // Health care insurers including Medicare, Medicaid and major private insurers have not done enough to combat the opioid epidemic, suggests a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The...
Surgery, Not Pharma, Is Biggest Healthcare Cost Worry: Gawande
Jun 22 2018 // Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon who was named this week to head the company being formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to trim employee healthcare costs, on Thursday cited surgery as the single biggest U.S....
Health Insurers Propose Lower Premiums for Minnesota Individual Market
Jun 19 2018 // Health insurers in Minnesota’s individual market are proposing mostly decreased premium rates for 2019, with average proposed decreases ranging from 3 percent to more than 12 percent for consumers, according to data...
Vermont to Require That All Have Health Insurance
Jun 18 2018 // Vermont is moving forward with its quest to ensure that as many residents as possible have health insurance by enacting a law that will require all to be covered or be penalized. The law, signed with no fanfare by...
Air Ambulances’ Sky-High Charges Leave Reimbursement Gaps, Lawsuits
Jun 11 2018 // When three-year-old West Cox’s fever hit 107 degrees, doctors called a helicopter. Hours earlier, the toddler, who’d been prescribed an antibiotic for a suspected ear infection, was at home in Princeton, West...
How Seniors Feel About Telemedicine
Jun 7 2018 // Every morning, 92-year-old Sidney Kramer wraps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and steps on a scale, and readings of his heart health beam to a team of nurses — and to his daughter’s smartphone — miles from...
Small Group Health Insurance Grew by 15% in Minnesota Last Year
Jun 4 2018 // The number of people covered by small group health insurance in Minnesota grew by 15 percent last year, ending a string of annual enrollment declines stretching back to 2004. Price hikes and tight limits last year on...
Small Group Health Insurance Grew by 15% in Minnesota in 2017
May 30 2018 // The number of people covered by small group health insurance in Minnesota grew by 15 percent last year, ending a string of annual enrollment declines stretching back to 2004. Price hikes and tight limits last year on...
California Workers’ Comp Division Suspends 3 Medical Providers for Fraud
May 24 2018 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has suspended three more medical providers from participating in the state’s workers’ comp system, bringing the total number of providers suspended to...
Uber Expands Health Insurance Benefit to Drivers in 21 European Countries
May 24 2018 // Uber plans to offer all its European drivers an upgraded version of the health insurance it already provides in France in a drive to attract independent workers and fend off criticism over their treatment. The San...
Growing Gig Economy in Search of Health Insurance Options
May 15 2018 // There are plenty of problems lurking on America’s career ladder, but here is a big one: our healthcare systems are designed for the workforce of 1950. If you have a lifetime corporate 9-to-5 gig, then you probably...
Insurers Seeking Major Premium Hikes for Obamacare Plans in 2019
May 8 2018 // The first glimpse of what health insurance companies plan to charge for Obamacare plans next year suggests there’s no relief ahead for consumers saddled with high premiums. Several insurers in Maryland and Virginia...
Regulators Looking at Health Insurance Reform Options in North Dakota
May 8 2018 // The North Dakota Insurance Department is seeking to work with a consultant in order to perform actuarial and other analysis of state proposals to reform North Dakota’s individual health insurance market, the agency...
