WellPoint may face the most threat from more aggressive reviews. The Indianapolis insurer is the leader in small-business
and individual policies, areas that have seen the biggest increases in recent years.
The Indianapolis-based insurer’s first-quarter spending is 16 percent more than it spent in the same quarter last year and
in the fourth quarter of 2009.
In the company's latest response to withering criticism of its breast-cancer policies, WellPoint Inc. said it will pay
for any breast cancer patient to stay two days in a hospital after surgery.
WellPoint Inc.'s announcement of comparative effectiveness research guidelines last week marks a new era for U.S. drugmakers.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer will use studies that compare the effectiveness of one drug against another as a complement
to typical clinical trial research that compares a drug against a placebo sugar pill.
Information that could prove her death was not an accident has surfaced during civil proceedings involving a life insurance
policy.
Dr. Rob Stone wants the giant health insurer to convert to not-for-profit status and put him, an advocate of national health
insurance, on the company’s board.
Influential investor sold off all 1.3 million shares in the Indianapolis-based health insurer during the first quarter.
Board member William “Bucky” Bush, uncle of former President George W. Bush, appeared OK after a shortened meeting in which
shareholders approved
a “say-on-pay” proposal. Protesters gathered outside WellPoint’s headquarters after the meeting.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said having insurers as "good partners" is part of health
care reform, but she made no promises Friday to tone down criticism of an industry the Obama administration has attacked repeatedly.
CNO Financial Group Inc., known as Conseco Inc. until May 11, has become almost the polar opposite of what it was under flashy co-founder
Steve Hilbert. Instead of high-octane growth driven by merger deals, CNO Financial has returned to profitability
by selling low-dollar products and emphasizing low-cost operations.
Carmel-based life and health insurer is now CNO Financial Group Inc. to reflect what company officers call a “transformation”
of the once-troubled firm.
The U.S. health overhaul’s mandate that insurers spend 80 percent of premiums on medical care may
need to be loosened
to keep companies from quitting the market for people who buy coverage on their own, state regulators said.
The health law passed by Congress in March will force insurers like WellPoint to give rebates to customers next year if the
companies don’t meet the medical-spending minimums.
CEO of Indianapolis-based health insurer wrote to Obama on Sunday to rebut the president’s criticism that WellPoint seeks
out breast cancer patients to cancel their policies.
There has been a noticeable uptick in the level of health care real estate development activity this year.
The Obama administration has asked state regulators to double-check premium hikes from Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint
Inc. after an audit found problems with proposed California increases.
The Carmel-based life and health insurer earned $33.9 million in the quarter, more than 38 percent higher than during the
same quarter a year earlier. Nearly all of that increase, however, was due to lower losses on investments and debt modifications.
Anthem Blue Cross withdrew plans to raise health insurance rates for Californians by as much as 39 percent after an independent
audit determined the company’s justification for raising premiums was based on flawed data.
The February earthquake in Chile sent first-quarter profit tumbling 90 percent at Indianapolis-based property and casualty
insurer Baldwin & Lyons Inc.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer was helped in first quarter by a mild flu season, but it now expects to lose nearly
700,000 customers by year end.
