Businesses all want to see reform of the health care system, but they diverge on how much the U.S. government’s entrance into
the insurance market would help or hurt them.
Two-thirds of college-age Americans say health insurance is as important as salary when looking at jobs. Yet just as many have made no plans to obtain health insurance once they graduate from school this month.
Clarian Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine want to turn 1,500 or more doctors into employees under a new nonprofit group called the Indiana Clinic.
An activist shareholder vying to become a director of Conseco Inc. says the insurance company’s board "completely misjudged"
the risks it faced when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 and hasn’t recovered since. Now an independent shareholder advisory firm is siding with him.
The insurance industry and [Indiana] Chamber of Commerce are providing misleading and untruthful statements to employers and
their insured members about assignment of benefits.
Two partners at the Bingham McHale LLP law firm are taking five lawyers with them to form a firm that will concentrate on insurance defense work.
Physicians and insurance companies have entered their fourth year of haggling over insurance payments, and each side is claiming
to best represent patients.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s growing market dominance in Indiana is sparking a backlash from doctors who plan to push
a bill this year in the Indiana General Assembly that would allow physicians to reject patients covered by massive health
insurer.
It was a bad year to be a shareholder of most companies. But the value of the Indianapolis-based health insurer’s stock lost
more than 55 percent of its value during the year.
In order to comply with stricter rules from the Internal Revenue Service, schools and other not-for-profits are making changes
and consolidations to retirement plans, creating growth opportunities for companies like Indianapolis-based American United
Life Insurance Co.
Indianapolis-based Golden Rule Insurance Co. has launched a plan aimed at people who move in and out of jobs that don’t offer
health insurance.
Employers, now doubly pinched by steadily rising health insurance premiums and a steadily deteriorating economy, are searching
for new and larger cost-shifting tools, according to survey and anecdotal evidence from Mercer, a global benefits brokerage
and consulting firm.
The health insurance industry — hurt by falling profits and threatened by Democratic reform bills — could see
another wave of
consolidation, and that may well involve Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.
Because major employers in Shelby County have laid off workers, Major Hospital isn’t getting as much income from employer-based
medical insurance plans.
OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. has made no secret of its desire to acquire other companies. Well, if it wants to buy,
it could hardly find a better time.
Just how big of a deal was the Healthy Indiana Plan? That seems to be the key question dividing Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and his Democratic challenger, Jill Long Thompson, in their competing plans over health care reform. Daniels’ campaign for re-election points to his administration’s ongoing rollout of the Healthy Indiana Plan as his entire plan for health care reform in his second term. The plan, which uses cigarette tax revenue to offer health insurance and health savings accounts…
Joe the Plumber has been getting plenty of attention in recent weeks, but what about Kimberly the Merchant or John the Manufacturer? For all the talk about whether this year’s presidential candidates favor Wall Street or Main Street, there’s little discussion of the fact that neither Democrat Barack Obama nor Republican John McCain may be perfect for all small-business owners. Indianapolis manufacturing firm owner John Raine is backing McCain because of his stance on taxes and labor unions. Local shop…
Although the spigot of bank financing has slowed to a trickle, money to fund commercial development projects remains available from alternative sources. Just ask David Amick, executive director of Premier Capital Corp., a local lender that uses federal funds to help finance expansions. “We’ve got money to lend,” he said. “I’ve got that [message] hung on the door.” The fragile credit markets have nearly diminished the ability of companies to borrow. But lenders such as Amick insist the money is…
I was uncomfortably challenged when Faye of the Forest landed on my deck a few days ago wanting to know what all these economic goings-on meant. “I’m responsible for teaching the elves,” she said, “and I don’t know what to tell them.” “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “But here’s what seems to me has happened.” “Some people,” I said, “are unable to make the payments on their mortgages. These mortgages are not held by the banks…
A person’s DNA may someday determine how doctors diagnose illness and prescribe affordable treatment. That same genetic makeup also might help doctors determine whether a person suffering from cancer might be predisposed to respond or not respond to chemotherapy or another type of innovative or experimental treatment. That future picture of health care delivery, however, is missing a key piece. It doesn’t address what those advancements might mean for health insurance and other related questions about medical coverage. Our current…
