Aetna agrees to buy Humana in $37B deal
Aetna Inc. agreed to buy Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of private Medicare insurance, for $37 billion in cash and stock to broaden its health-care coverage.
Medicare
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Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling is a win for Republicans—they just can’t see it
For at least 20 years, Republicans have been pushing for giving tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance. The Supreme Court’s latest Obamacare ruling does Republicans the favor of preserving them.
No 1,000-percent markups at Indy’s hospitals
But hospitals’ list prices in Indiana are more than three times what the federal Medicare program pays.
Buying Cigna would give 60 percent of Hoosier health insurance market to Anthem
If Anthem merged with Cigna Corp. it would create a behemoth with even greater negotiating power, which could benefit employers but hurt doctors and hospitals.
Why Anthem could spend $34 billion to buy health insurer Humana
Wall Street analysts say a purchase of Louisville-based Humana Inc., which reportedly has put itself up for sale, would by Indianapolis-based Anthem. An Anthem-Humana marriage would be the biggest merger in the history of U.S. health insurance.
How Indy’s hospitals kept chugging through that terrible year of 2013
The individual hospital campuses around Indianapolis saw their collective revenue rise 8 percent and their collective operating profits rise 22 percent from from 2011 to 2013. That’s solid, just not stellar, growth.
Health insurers press gas on value-based payments
In Indiana, Anthem has struck accountable care organization deals with 14 health care provider groups and signed up nearly 2,900 primary care providers to its medical home program. And it’s pushing for more in the future.
The price we pay for diabetes
For employer health plans, diabetics generate $10,000 more per year in medical bills than non-diabetics. That means the rise in the prevalence of diabetes over the past 25 years is costing Hoosiers an extra $2.6 billion annually.
Anthem’s brand suffers small ding from data breach
Anthem Inc.’s brand has taken a noticeable hit since a massive data breach earlier this year, but the impact was blunted by positive perceptions of the way the company handled the breach.
Did Congress just kick off another wave of doc mergers?
Things got quiet after a wave of hospital systems' acquiring physician practices swept through central Indiana from 2008 to 2011. But a new wave could start now that Congress passed the "doc fix" last week.
Paying for low value
A recent ranking of health care value in all 50 states puts Indiana in the basement. By my rough figures, working-age Hoosiers are paying a couple billions dollars extra for their health care.
Finally, Congress OKs bill reshaping Medicare doctors’ fees
The Senate gave final congressional approval late Tuesday to the $214 billion bipartisan measure, which rewrites how Medicare pays doctors for treating over 50 million elderly people.
Hoosiers shopped around before picking Obamacare exchange coverage
One-third of Indiana’s buyers on Obamacare exchanges were new to their health plans this year—tying Indiana for sixth among the 37 states using the federal exchange.
Nursing homes in Indiana have more money than ever
Through partnerships with county-owned hospitals, Indiana’s nursing homes pulled in about $260 million last year in extra federal funds. That means participating nursing homes enjoyed a 10 percent bonus check.
Franciscan, poster child for Obamacare, sees 2014 profits surge fivefold
After cutting staff sharply in 2013, Franciscan enjoyed more revenue and big profits in 2014. The key question for its and other hospitals’ future is whether they can keep up these gains in productivity to handle looming payment cuts from Obamacare.
Roche sees more sales success with penny-pinching hospitals
The future of U.S. health care will be about precision and parsimony. And Roche Diagnostics Corp. think its new line of DNA-level testing machines are just what the doctor ordered.
Obamacare’s effects on Lilly: Modest pain, no gain
Since Obamcare was expected to boost insurance coverage nationally by 32 million people, drugmakers like Eli Lilly and Co. stood to benefit. But it’s not working out that way. At least not for Lilly.
Hoosier hospitals create new tool to help health care shoppers
Recognizing that more and more Hoosier patients are trying to shop for health care, the Indiana Hospital Association has created a web tool with price and quality information for all hospitals around the state. But bigger changes to the health care system will be needed before consumers have the kind of information they expect in other industries.
Study: Nursing home building boom is costing state millions
The state Medicaid program will pay $24 million more due to the nursing home building boom that occurred in 2014, according to an analysis by accounting firm Myers & Stauffer. The nursing home industry will use that figure to once again argue for halt to new construction.
Indy hospitals stung by Medicare penalties for patient injuries
Five Indianapolis-area hospitals stand to lose more than $7 million in Medicare payments as a penalty for having rates of infections and patient injuries that run higher than most hospitals nationwide.