WellPoint, insurance commissioner get earful from lawmakers
State House insurance committee chair grills executives about WellPoint’s 21-percent premium increase for individual policyholders
in Indiana.
Health Care & Insurance
Articles
State lawmakers to probe WellPoint premium hikes
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.
Pfizer’s Viagra patent partially rejected in Lilly fight
The patent on impotence drug Viagra was partially rejected after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it wasn’t different
enough from a Chinese herb known as Horny Goat Weed. The patent was key to an infringement suit Pfizer filed in 2002 against
Eli Lilly and Co. over its rival Cialis drug.
Purdue to get $12M to help small health providers
Stimulus funds will help university’s technical assistance service show doctors and nurses in small groups and in medically under-served areas how to adopt medical-records technologies.
WellPoint delays investor meeting to testify on rate flap
The Indianapolis-based insurer, preparing for Congressional testimony on proposed premium increases in California, says its
earnings forecast is now less clear.
Indiana part of national medical school surge
Marian University’s planned medical school is one of two dozen nationally, but budget cuts are forcing Indiana University to retreat
on enrollment expansion.
Ivy Tech, IPIC snare $10M in job-training grants
Programs will bolster job opportunities for some 1,700 Indiana workers in sectors including health care and advanced manufacturing.
ANALYSIS: Insurance rate hikes at heart of health-care debate
Individual insurance rate hikes like those recently planned for WellPoint Inc.’s California customers might be unlikely to
spread to those covered through their employers. But such hikes will affect a huge number of Americans — the 46 million
with no insurance at all.
WellPoint to delay insurance rate hike in California
The planned rate increase, which state officials estimated would affect about 700,000 customers, averaged 25 percent and would have been as high as 39 percent for some.
Could WellPoint woes breathe life into health reform?
The firestorm created this week by Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint’s spike in premiums could resurrect some parts
of
the languishing health reform bills.
Wishard parent ‘ecstatic’ about cheap debt – so far
The Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County got good news in its first round of borrowing to finance a new Wishard
Hospital: so far, it is paying less than planned.
UPDATE: WellPoint price hike defense fails to satisfy feds
Health insurer WellPoint is blaming the Great Recession and rising medical costs for its planned 39 percent rate increase
for some California customers of its Anthem Blue Cross plan. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius isn’t
buying the explanation proffered in a letter delivered to her Thursday.
WellPoint blames rate hike on loss of healthy customers
The Indianapolis-based health insurer says a shift in demographics and rising medical costs have led to its planned 39 percent
rate hike for some California customers.
CVS settles Indiana complaint over 2 pharmacists
Pharmacy giant CVS will pay $1.95 million and verify that all of its pharmacists are licensed in Indiana to settle a state
complaint that pharmacists with expired licenses dispensed prescriptions for several years at two of its drugstores.
Officials ask Anthem to justify rate hike in California
Anthem has declined to say how many of its 800,000 individual policyholders in California are being affected by the hike.
But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanded specifics in a sternly worded letter.
WellPoint CFO says insurance ‘mega-mergers’ unlikely
WellPoint Inc. chief financial officer Wayne DeVeydt said President Obama’s Federal Trade Commission is unlikely to approve
mergers among the biggest insurers.
Cardinal Health laying off 49 at local warehouse
Cardinal Health notified the state on Feb. 3 that it laid off 37 workers at the end of January and plans to lay off 12 more
effective April 3.
Health insurers may find 2010 full of challenges
WellPoint and other health insurers were profitable in 2009, but the lingering unemployment problem is dampening the outlook
for this year.
Underrated entrepreneurs
The Indianapolis area is home to myriad unsung entrepreneurs who run interesting companies, make money and create good jobs.
Here are some of them.
WellPoint: More employers involved in provider talks
Employer activism is on the rise when it comes to keeping hospitals honest in their negotiations with health insurers.
Executives at Indianapolis-based WellPoint say more employers are airing their displeasure when hospital
systems ask for double-digit reimbursement increases.