Articles

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Investors betting no on Anthem mega-deal

Lots of investors are betting health insurance giants Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. won’t ever make it to the altar—an outlook driven by concerns antitrust regulators or other obstacles will prevent consummating the $45 billion deal.

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Anthem-Cigna mega deal might snag on Blue Cross

Anthem Inc. has used the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand names as a powerful tool on its way to becoming the nation’s second-largest health insurer. But those Blue brands now are a hurdle for Anthem’s $54.2 billion acquisition of Cigna Corp.

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Shutdown orders issued as Congress misses deadline

For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown Monday at midnight after congressional Republicans demanded changes in the nation's health care law and President Barack Obama and Democrats refused.

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Employers face messy decision to drop health insurance

Companies that drop insurance coverage could, without spending any more money than they are now, give workers an 11-percent raise or else help them save as much as $2,000 per year buying health coverage in one of the exchanges, IBJ calculations show.

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Anthem settles suit involving 120K policyholders

Anthem Blue Cross, an affiliate of WellPoint Inc., has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of manipulating policies and forcing patients into higher deductible policies with fewer benefits.

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Health insurers lose push to ease rate review

U.S. insurers led by WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. failed to get federal regulators to change a rule in the 2010 health-care overhaul that triggers a review of any premium increases exceeding 10 percent.

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Execs from WellPoint, peers meet to hone health-law lobby

Top executives from WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. are meeting almost monthly with their counterparts from Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. in an informal lobbying alliance aimed at blunting parts of the health-care law, say sources with knowledge of the sessions.

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New company taking over troubled Standard Life

State Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson said agreements have been reached for the $1.7 billion in policies and financial obligations of Carmel-based Standard Life Insurance Co. to be assumed by Guggenheim Life and Annuity Co.

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Rules mostly falling WellPoint’s way

Health insurers won fairly broad leeway under key rules suggested by state insurance commissioners that will govern what kinds of expenses count toward meeting a new federal threshold to spend at least 80 percent of premiums dollars on medical care.

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