The Indianapolis-based health insurer announced Tuesday afternoon it will be the first company to adopt stricter standards
on canceling
policies, which are contained in the health reform bill passed in March.
The two largest U.S. health insurance companies, UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., and WellPoint Inc., based in Indianapolis,
sell Advantage plans.
UnitedHealthcare believes a program tested in the Indianapolis area will help it save money on claims.
Drug prices rose faster last year than they have in a decade—just in time for big rebates the drug industry promised
as part of the health reform law.
Lilly shareholders are set to gather Monday in Indianapolis to hear an update on the company’s performance, including
how it will keep paying its generous dividend during the lean years after Zyprexa’s patent expiration.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint “reclassified” more than half a billion dollars of administrative expenses as medical
expenses when it was defining its medical-loss ratio, according to a report released by U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s
office.
Jim Parker was an executive at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and WellPoint for 14 years, including a year and a half as
chief of staff to CEO Angela Braly. He now is president of his own consulting firm, Meridian Strategic Advisors, in Indianapolis.
He spoke about the impact of the new health reform law on health insurers.
Employers are still trying to get their arms around what the new health insurance law will mean for them. But on the eve of
the law's passage last month, a survey by Indianapolis-based United Benefit Advisors LLC showed employers as a group had
no hope the law would reduce their costs but also no coherent plan for reforming the current system.
In poll after poll, calls for repealing the new health insurance law get strong support. But if the law were repealed, an
Indiana University survey released this week shows that Americans want a surprising thing in its place: a public option.
A U.S. mandate forcing insurers led by UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. to spend 85 percent of revenue from premiums
on medical care is the newest front in the battle between the Obama administration and companies over industry profits.
Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer of South Bend and Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson of Bloomington say the litigation wastes
taxpayer dollars at a time when the state is cutting its funding to schools.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is fast becoming critic-in-chief of the health reform law.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer has more individual and small-business customers than its major competitors, increasing
the impact of health reform.
Lilly’s lobbying spending represents a 36-percent drop from the final quarter of 2008, even though the Congressional debate
over health care reform peaked during the last quarter of 2009.
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.
Attorneys general from 13 states filed suit to stop the overhaul just minutes after the bill signing, contending the law is
unconstitutional. Other state attorneys general may join the lawsuit later or sue separately.
One of the most agreed-upon reasons for health care reform was the expensive overuse of the emergency room by uninsured patients.
But two Hoosier ER docs—one conservative, one liberal—say the implementation of ObamaCare will leave that fundamental
problem unresolved.
The new federal health care bill will put 500,000 more Indiana residents on Medicaid and lead to higher state taxes, Gov.
Mitch Daniels said Monday, but a government insurance proponent said it will help families and businesses.
Attorneys general in at least 13 states have signaled they intend to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation in
court.
