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.
Not-for-profit sees increasing numbers of patients, but can't plug the entire gap to be created by health care retirements.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer has more individual and small-business customers than its major competitors, increasing
the impact of health reform.
State attorney general says the federal health care law raises serious constitutional questions, including whether Congress
has the authority to enact a mandate that most Americans purchase health insurance.
With one of the nation’s largest tanning-bed manufacturers and dozens of salons in central Indiana, a 10-percent tax on tanning
could cost the region jobs.
Daniels told members of the Economic Club of Indianapolis that it’s ridiculous for anyone to suggest the nearly $1 trillion
health care overhaul signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama won’t add to the nation’s debt.
Sweeping changes phase in slowly for most, but insurers, hospitals, drug companies, employers, workers, medical device makers
and more will eventually feel impact.
Drugmakers and insurers could gain millions of customers under the legislation, but the industry also will pay new fees and
face stricter rules that may shrink profit and fuel mergers.
To pay for the changes, the legislation includes more than $400 billion in higher taxes over a decade, roughly half of it
from a new Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000.
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.
The California attorney general has demanded documents from several health insurers, including Indianapolis' WellPoint,
believing that their rate-setting and claims practices might be illegal.
While insurers get the blame for rising health-care costs for consumers, surging fees from hospitals and the growing dominance
of such providers may be just as responsible for driving up expenses, according to a new study examining California's
market.
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.
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.
State House insurance committee chair grills executives about WellPoint’s 21-percent premium increase for individual policyholders
in Indiana.
Three WellPoint executives will be on hand Wednesday morning to answer questions about premium increases on its individual
policies, which have risen as high as 39 percent this year.
