Obamacare exchange 2.0: Anthem far from the cheapest plan
There are more choices and better deals in the 2015 Obamacare exchange, but if you want the same coverage as last year, it’s going to cost you more.
Health Care Costs
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Top 4 questions for Hoosier health care after GOP takes control of Congress
On Obamacare, the new Republican-controlled Congress should “leave the façade of the building and then demolish the inside of it,” according to one GOP leader. If Republicans take that approach, here are four things that could change in the next two years.
Will strip mall medicine help or hurt hospital systems?
Retail clinics and urgent care centers are proliferating. That could expand the market for health care. But if consumers decide instead to make strip malls the front door to their health care—rather than traditional physician offices—the hospital systems could see their market shares waning.
Obamacare launch has goosed WellPoint stock by 50 percent
WellPoint’s stock has benefited the most among major insurers since the 2013 launch of the Obamacare exchanges, along with tax subsidies to buy insurance.
Why small Hoosier employers aren’t dropping their health plans—yet
Obamacare's community rating rules would give 25-percent-off coupons to boomers while sticking millennials with a 75-percent surcharge, according to recent data from employer health plans.
Hendricks Regional Health dangling 15-percent discounts
Hendricks Regional Health is taking a revolutionary step—at least for the health care industry—by applying the retailer’s playbook. Health care executives say more hospital systems are likely to follow suit in the future.
The tragedy of electronic medical records
The federal government has spent $27 billion—and hospital systems have spent even more—to roll out electronic medical records across the industry. But even advocates say the results have been “disappointing.”
Report provides glimpse into liberal concerns about Pence’s HIP 2.0
A new think tank report, which appears to jibe with Obama administration concerns, calls for “significant revision” to the Pence plan.
Health clinic operator plans HQ expansion, 203 new jobs
Activate Healthcare LLC, an Indianapolis-based workplace health clinic operator, plans to expand its local operations, adding as many as 203 employees over the next nine years, state economic development officials announced Friday morning.
Wal-Mart cuts health benefits for most part-timers
Starting Jan. 1, Wal-Mart will no longer offer health insurance to employees who work less than an average of 30 hours a week. The move, which would affect 30,000 employees, follows similar decisions by Target, Home Depot and others.
Walker: Still a long way to go to control health care costs
Gains are needed on top of significant streamlining already in place.
Employer clinics are latest health care disruption
The clinics could rearrange the system by forcing price quotes and demanding that providers follow-through.
If past is prologue, HMOs will make a comeback in Indiana
WellPoint created an HMO joint venture with seven big hospitals in Los Angeles. Could it do something similar here? Quite possibly.
IU Health CFO: 3 years to go in difficult transition
In the past two years, IU Health has laid off 935 people, halted construction of a major bed tower, sold off health clinics and decided to close its proton-therapy center. But there are three more years of changes to come, said CFO Ryan Kitchell.
The pain (and pleasure) that comes from paying more of our health care bills
Paying off medical debts over time is now a common experience for families with health insurance and becoming more so. And that is inducing big changes in the health care marketplace.
Why small firms have been irate about health insurance
For Indiana employers with fewer than 10 workers, health insurance premiums have risen 11.5 percent, on average, from 2001 to 2013. That ranked second-highest among all states.
What if hospitals ‘upcharged’ you for being fat?
As local hospitals try to offer package deals with upfront prices on joint replacement surgeries, they're struggling with the reality that patients' other health conditions can significantly increase their cost of care.
Obamacare exchanges boosted coverage, premiums and spending in Indiana
A new study finds that Obamacare boosted enrollment in Indiana’s individual insurance market significantly over what it would have been without the law, but also caused premiums to spike.
Conservatives swinging Pence’s way on health reform
Conservatives, after waging war on Obamacare, including its large expansion of Medicaid, are starting to try to propose alternative, conservative ways to achieve its key goals.
Startup Companion Diagnostics trying to work through bankruptcy
Companion Diagnostics Inc., a biotech company that relocated to Indiana from Connecticut in 2010, has entered bankruptcy reorganization while it tries to develop a therapy for inflammation.