Medicare Advantage may survive cuts under health reform
The two largest U.S. health insurance companies, UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., and WellPoint Inc., based in Indianapolis,
sell Advantage plans.
The two largest U.S. health insurance companies, UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., and WellPoint Inc., based in Indianapolis,
sell Advantage plans.
In January, Anthem Blue Cross notified many individual policyholders that their rates would rise as much as 39 percent March
1. After a public outcry, the company announced a two-month delay. Now that is on hold, too.
Insurers like WellPoint Inc. should be required to get U.S. approval to increase premiums, Sens. Diane Feinstein and Tom Harkin
say.
Proposal at annual meeting will ask health insurer to study feasibility of converting to not-for-profit status.
Former WellPoint Inc. leader Larry Glasscock has joined the board of directors of the Indianapolis-based real estate giant.
Indianapolis-based health insurer expects revenue, profit to fall as persistently high unemployment reduces employer-sponsored
insurance enrollment.
Blue Cross of California has been ordered to reimburse a man $206,000 after he paid for his own liver transplant.
WellPoint Inc.’s Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut may constrain competition through contracts that require
that the insurer receives hospital discounts at least as favorable as any provided to a competitor.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met at the White House with the CEOs of Indianapolis-based WellPoint,
Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, as well as several state insurance commissioners.
A consumer watchdog group filed a lawsuit Monday against WellPoint’s California subsidiary on behalf of policyholders, claiming
they were pushed to take coverage with fewer benefits and higher deductibles.
Amid attacks from Democrats over high executive salaries, Angela Braly testified in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that big
insurance-premium increases are
the result of growing price tags for hospital care and pharmaceuticals.
California lawmakers grilled Anthem Blue Cross executives on Tuesday about their plan to boost individual insurance premiums
by as much as 39 percent, only to hear them blame the economy and a broken health care system.
Executives are scheduled to testify Tuesday before a California legislative committee and on Wednesday before a U.S. House
of Representatives committee about big premium increases.
California’s insurance regulator said Monday his office has found more than 700 violations by the state’s largest for-profit
health insurer, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based WellPoint.
Insurers WellPoint Inc. and others would get a delay in taxes on premiums and high-cost medical benefits, along with additional
funding for expanding Medicaid, under a White House proposal
Obama, seeking to break an impasse over health-care legislation, proposes a plan that includes the first Medicare tax on unearned
income such as capital gains and higher fees on drugmakers.
President Obama’s latest push for a health care overhaul could drive health plans around the country into insolvency, according
to an insurance trade group.
At the heart of the debate is the question of what should be a fair profit for health insurers. WellPoint CEO Angela Braly
will likely be grilled on the issue when she appears at a Congressional hearing Wednesday.
President Obama will release a proposal to restart the health-care debate before a bipartisan White House meeting on Feb.
25, one day after WellPoint officials testify before Congress about steep rate increases.
The furor over WellPoint Inc.’s premium hikes have migrated from California to Indiana, where state lawmakers held a
high-profile hearing.