WellPoint getting unexpected competition from co-ops
Obamacare opponents predicted early on that insurance co-ops created by the law would fail, but several are doing well by combining low premiums with a certain homespun appeal.
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Federal insurance enrollment up 36 percent in Indiana
Nearly 65,000 Indiana residents have signed up for private insurance under the federal health care law, but the number is still far short of initial projections as the open enrollment deadline nears.
Lawmakers getting closer on nursing home moratorium
House Public Health Chairman Ed Clere said Tuesday that negotiators had found a compromise that would ban new construction for two years except in counties whose nursing homes are at 90-percent capacity or higher.
Republicans needed to make Obamacare work
Obama’s latest delay of Obamacare insurance rules could sabotage the law’s exchanges. The president must be counting on Republican critics, like Indiana Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson, to stop him.
Health insurance brokers must change to survive
Employees, rather than employers, will soon choose their own health insurers—either through the Obamacare exchanges or through private exchanges. Does that mean health insurance brokers, the people who match up employers with insurers, will no longer be needed?
Two-year extension offered for canceled health plans
The extension was part of a major package of regulations that sets ground rules for 2015, the second year of government-subsidized health insurance markets under Obama's law — and the first year that larger employers will face a requirement to provide coverage.
Insurers’ Obamacare losses may reach $5.5 billion, U.S. says
Health insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and Louisville-based Humana Inc. stand to receive $5.5 billion next year to cover losses from Obamacare in a program the law’s opponents label a bailout.
Kentucky’s largest health system makes major jobs cut
Hospital company KentuckyOne Health, which employs more than 14,000 people in Kentucky and southern Indiana, says it has laid off about 500 people.
Indiana’s hospitals face Obamacare timing problem
The Obama administration’s delays of Obamacare’s employer mandate penalties mean it will be another year or two before hospitals see the additional revenue the law was supposed to bring them.
What happens if Pence, Sebelius can’t make a deal?
Even if Gov. Mike Pence and Obama’s health secretary can’t come to terms this weekend, there are ideas bouncing around the state legislature that suggest other ways Indiana could expand coverage to low-income Hoosiers.
Consumers shun cheapest Obamacare exchange plans
Most Americans are avoiding the lowest-priced health plans on the Obamacare insurance exchanges, taking advantage of government subsidies to seek more protection against high treatment costs.
The weightlessness of Obamacare
Rich employer benefits are not always so attractive, sick patients are not always money losers for insurers, and hospitals and doctors are now health care preventers rather than health care providers. This is the bizarre world to which Obamacare has brought us.
Hospitals’ worries about Obamacare plans misplaced
The latest enrollment data from the Obamacare exchanges show that three out of four Hoosiers are purchasing decent coverage—not the super high-deductible plans that concerned hospitals.
Generous employer benefits now hurt some workers
Ever since World War 2, when employers started using health benefits to compete for workers, the less employees had to pay toward health insurance premiums the more attractive the benefits. But under Obamacare, this axiom will not always be true.
Finding uninsured means targeting key locations
The uninsured aren’t scattered evenly across the country: half of them live in just 116 of the nation’s 3,143 counties. Federal officials are focusing on 25 key metro areas, including Indianapolis.
Analysts say health care law means fewer on job
Several million American workers will cut back their hours on the job or leave the nation's workforce entirely because of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, congressional analysts said Tuesday.
Indianapolis businessman indicted for health care fraud
Ronald Reed, the owner of Benchmark Mobility Corp., allegedly billed the Medicaid and Medicare programs for used wheelchairs, scooters and lift chairs as if they were brand new, obtaining nearly $443,000 in fraudulent sales.
Despite exchange roller coaster, WellPoint says it’s all going according to plan
Since WellPoint says it’s not losing money on the exchanges—at this point—that’s encouraging news for those who would like the Obamacare exchanges to remain a viable option.
St. Vincent hospitals not quite as rich as they seem
St. Vincent Health has been sending roughly $50 million to $70 million every year to its parent company, St. Louis-based Ascension Health, to support other hospitals in Ascension’s 93-hospital network.
View of health rollout improves, but only slightly
Negative perceptions of the health care rollout have eased, a new poll finds. But overall, two-thirds of Americans say things still aren’t going well.