Democratic lawmakers are seeking to stir up competition by stripping health insurers like Indianapolis-based WellPoint of
their protection from certain federal antitrust laws, although experts shrug off the effort as largely symbolic.
Goodwill Industries executive Keith Reissaus has been tapped to run Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group, an industry coalition.
Reissaus gained control of health care costs by giving employees incentives to care about their health.
Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws, according
to congressional officials, the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama’s effort to overhaul the
health care industry.
Fear of death may be causing Americans to expect too much from our medical system when it comes to prolonging the lives of
the old and infirm.
The health insurance industry’s sudden counterpunch to the Senate version of health reform echoed in Indiana and
opened a key issue for the rest of the debate: Will covering half of the country’s uninsured mean raising premiums for
the 85 percent of Americans who already have insurance?
As health care legislation
continues to wend its way through Congress, Indianapolis-area industry leaders still harbor strong
opinions about the issue. Five industry insiders discussed how to improve the health care system during
IBJ’s Power Breakfast Sept. 25 at the Westin Indianapolis.
Doctors are considering their options as health care reform gains momentum.
Presenting five video excerpts from a free-wheeling panel discussion about health-care reform featuring five of the city’s
top minds and decision-makers. Reporter J.K. Wall moderates the IBJ’s Power Breakfast on Sept. 25, covering tort reform,illegal
immigrants, pay models and the role of insurance companies.
UnitedHealthcare has become the second health insurer to join Quality Health First, a pay-for-performance program operated
by the Indiana Health Information Exchange, the exchange announced Tuesday.
Presenting five video excerpts from a free-wheeling panel discussion about health-care reform featuring five of the city’s
top decision-makers. J.K. Wall moderates the IBJ’s Power Breakfast, covering tort reform,illegal immigrants, pay models and
insurance companies.
The insurance industry sharply escalated its criticism of the Senate health care bill Sunday, charging that the legislation
would shift costs to privately insured people, raising the price of a typical policy by hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars
annually.
Shares of WellPoint Inc. partially recovered Friday morning after a plunge was touched off Thursday by gathering momentum behind health care reform and talk of a windfall-profit tax by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
With a national unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent eroding its customer base, WellPoint Inc. is cutting at least 30
middle-management employees and reshuffling its corporate organization, according to internal memos obtained by IBJ.
The health reform bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., would help pay for expanded health insurance coverage
by levying fees of $13 billion a year on the health care industry. The fees would deliver a hefty bill to just
about all of Indiana’s major health care companies. But how they’re reacting to the fees is all over the map.
Demonstrators on Wednesday backed Maine’s insurance superintendent for rejecting a request from the state’s largest private health insurer seeking an 18-percent rate hike for its individual insurance plans.
The Indiana Division of Aging wants to change Medicaid rates to nursing homes to reward quality care and penalize the lack
of it, leaving the industry divided over whether to support the groundbreaking rule or to seek revisions and a slower phase-in.
Most business groups cheered when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced a health reform bill with no so-called public option,
a controversial government-run insurance plan for working adults. But there’s a big group that would like
to see it back on the table—hospitals.
Health insurer WellPoint said today that it may trim some more jobs as part of a push to become more efficient next year.
Employees at five different companies collectively lost 805 pounds over six weeks this summer. They also
raised $805 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Indiana.
If President Barack Obama gets what he wants in his health care plan — covering all Americans and barring insurers from
denying coverage — some analysts say individuals could wind up paying higher premiums.
