Baldwin & Lyons profits rise on fewer storm losses
Indianapolis-based Baldwin & Lyons Inc. continues to improve on its 2011 results, recording after-tax profit of $11.7 million, or 78 cents a share, for the third quarter.
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CNO Financial earnings fall on recapitalization charge
Carmel-based CNO Financial Group on Monday reported a third-quarter loss of $5 million compared to a $179.5 million profit in the third quarter of 2011.
Judge approves $90 million for Anthem plaintiffs
The settlement will go to 700,000 claimants in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Connecticut, who said Anthem underpaid them when it converted in 2001 from policyholder ownership into publicly traded company WellPoint Inc.
Amerigroup shareholders approve $4.9B sale to WellPoint
Shareholders of Amerigroup Corp. overwhelming approved the Virginia company’s sale for $4.9 billion to Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint Inc. in a vote on Tuesday. The vote clears the way for the acquisition to close before the end of the year.
WellPoint reorganizes into four business units
Separate Medicare and Medicaid divisions each will sell plans for those government-backed insurance programs. Another will handle commercial and individual business, and a specialty unit will provide dental, vision and disability coverage.
Longtime insurance agency acquired by local rival
Property-casualty and employee benefits firm MJ Insurance buys Mead & Co., which dates to the 1860s.
Wellpoint raises $1.35B in first convertible offering since ’99
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. sold its first convertible securities in more than 13 years with a $1.35 billion offering of 30-year bonds.
Amerigroup delays vote on $4.9B WellPoint acquisition
Amerigroup Corp. officials agreed to delay a shareholder vote on WellPoint Inc.’s $4.9 billion buyout offer to resolve investors’ claims they were being shortchanged in the deal, the company said in a securities filing.
WellPoint to add 100-plus local jobs for new Medicare contract
WellPoint Inc.’s National Government Services unit will add more than 100 jobs in Indianapolis beginning late this year or early next after the health insurance giant won a new contract with the federal Medicare program.
Appeals court strikes down Indiana’s Medicaid dental cap
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a preliminary injunction that blocked the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration from enforcing a $1,000 annual limit on dental coverage. The agency had established it as a cost-cutting measure in 2011.
Some hospitals, doctors might be cut from health plans
With health insurance premiums continuing to outstrip inflation, some health insurers and hospital systems are considering bringing back an old strategy: limiting patient access to a “narrow” network of doctors and hospitals.
WellPoint hires Chicago-based search firm to find CEO
Chicago-based recruiting firm Spencer Stuart & Associates Ltd. has previously led executive and board director hunts for companies including Facebook Inc., Comcast Corp., Talbots Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
WellPoint says CEO search to take three to six months
WellPoint is seeking a replacement for former CEO Angela Braly, who stepped down Aug. 28 amid shareholder discontent. The company plans to hire a search firm within the next week.
OneAmerica unit using hybrid policies to grow long-term-care sales
Using banks as a sales channel also boosts business in what has been a languishing product segment.
High-deductible premiums rising, too
Since 2007, premiums for high-deductible health plans’ family coverage have grown 32 percent—compared with 30 percent among all health plans, according to survey data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Crop insurance losses begin to mount amid drought
Thousands of farmers are filing insurance claims this year after drought and triple-digit temperatures burned up crops across the nation's Corn Belt, and some experts are predicting record insurance losses — exacerbated by changes that reduced some growers' premiums.
Average premiums for employee health plans rise 4 percent
Annual premiums for job-based family health insurance went up just 4 percent on average this year, but that's no comfort with the price tag approaching $16,000 and rising more than twice as fast as wages.
WellPoint management team gets board support, CFO says
Almost two weeks after Angela Braly was forced out as WellPoint Inc. CEO, the management team she put in place has been told by the board it will stay, said Chief Financial Officer Wayne Deveydt.
Bloomington docs still feuding with Anthem
A large physician practice in Bloomington remains at an impasse with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana less than two months before their contract is set to expire.
‘Knock on Wood’ campaign boosts Farm Bureau brand
The torrent of competitors’ humorous TV commercials forced Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance to roll out its own campaign. So far, its “Knock on Wood” shtick is said to have boosted brand awareness in urban markets by 12 percent, as measured by social media chatter.