Principal Financial shift to result in local layoffs
Financial giant Principal Financial Group Inc. is exiting the health insurance business, a move that will cost 60 Indianapolis workers their jobs.
Health Insurance
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WellPoint, Aetna led U.S. insurers in coverage denial
Until all consumers are required to buy health insurance, coverage restrictions are needed to keep people from gaming the system, insurers say.
WellPoint, other insurers’ stock buybacks concern investors
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and competing U.S. health insurers approved $10 billion in stock repurchases in the past year, a concern to investors who say buybacks failed to increase share prices and who want more spent on dividends.
Insurers cautious on accountable care
Health insurers, including locally based WellPoint Inc. and Advantage Health Solutions, have been looking to work with health care providers to form accountable-care organizations. But they also worry that the accountable-care concept will become nothing more than a negotiating tactic by hospitals and doctors.
Reform will boost health care costs, Indianapolis panel predicts
Rising costs aren't the only impact of reform, say panelists taking part in a Power Breakfast sponsored by Indianapolis Business Journal.
Health overhaul’s $264M question weighs down WellPoint
The failure by state regulators to decide how much insurers must spend on patient care is scaring investors from health-plan stocks and complicating insurance company decisions.
Barron’s: Brighter days ahead for WellPoint
It’s been a tough year for major health insurers, but Barron’s magazine predicts a big comeback for Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and its rival UnitedHealth Group.
Health insurer cash shifts to favor Republicans before election
Health insurers led by WellPoint Inc. are backing Republicans with campaign donations by an 8-to-1 margin, favoring the party
that’s promised to repeal President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul if it wins back Congress.
California OKs Anthem rate hike after controversy
The California Department of Insurance said Wednesday it approved a rate increase averaging about 14 percent for Anthem Blue
Cross customers. The department also OK’d a nearly 19-percent increase for Blue Shield of California.
WellPoint, other health insurers race to join accountable care groups
The health care industry is responding to reforms that will pay doctors bonuses if they provide high-quality care and save
Medicare money.
WellPoint, peers focus on health reform rules, campaign
WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and three other health insurers, criticized by Democrats during the health care reform
debate, are seeking to influence how the new law will be implemented, and possibly change it, by campaigning for supportive
congressional candidates.
Investors fear insurers’ rosy outlook will boost regulators’ scrutiny
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. became the third U.S. health insurer this month to increase its 2010 profit forecast, stirring
investor concern that state and federal regulators may increase scrutiny of industry pricing.
Hospitals map out ways to bypass insurers
Clarian Health is launching its own health insurance plan, the boldest of several initiatives at Indianapolis hospitals to
bypass health insurers and provide health benefits directly to employers.
Health reform rule could cost WellPoint
WellPoint Inc. has about $800 million riding on one arcane rule: how to calculate a medical loss ratio. The ratio quantifies
the percentage of customers’ premiums were spent on medical care, rather than overhead or profits.
Connecticut to probe WellPoint security breach
Attorney general seeks more details on the breach, which may have compromised financial and health information on almost 500,000
people. He also calls on the Indianapolis-based insurer to provide affected customers with credit monitoring and theft protection
services.
Program tying doctor bonuses to quality goes statewide
The program currently includes 1,200 physicians—about 10 percent of all doctors in Indiana.
WellPoint seeking 14 percent rate hike in California
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. said Wednesday that its California subsidiary will dial down rate hikes that drew national outrage earlier this year and helped spark a final push for health care reform.
Health care reform bringing changes to Caregivers
Caregivers anticipates coping with declining Medicare reimbursements while having to offer insurance to its employees.
Braly’s political skirmishes hurting insurer, critics say
When WellPoint Inc. named Angela Braly its CEO three years ago, it touted her experience dealing with politicians and government
regulators. But WellPoint is now the poster child for health insurer bad behavior—credited in Washington with reviving a
dead health reform bill the company opposed.
WellPoint CFO says feds may phase in medical-spending rule
U.S. regulators may phase in requirements on how much health insurers spend on medical care to avoid pushing plans out of
the market for people who buy their own coverage, WellPoint Inc.’s chief financial officer said Wednesday.