Latest Health Insurance Headlines
All the headlines from our Health Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Deficit Poses the Biggest Threat to U.S. Healthcare
Dec 19 2011 // A mounting U.S. deficit could pose a much greater threat to the survival of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms than either the Supreme Court or 2012 elections. Many health experts say innovations in...
Louisiana Asks for Reconsideration of Medical Loss Ratio Waiver Denial
Dec 16 2011 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon is requesting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reconsider its denial of the medical loss ratio (MLR) waiver that the state requested earlier this...
Well-Meaning Decisions Yield Unintended Consequences
Dec 5 2011 // It would be difficult to find an industry more competitive than the insurance business. Our long-term results prove that to be true. Far more often than not, the industry loses money on what is supposed to be our core...
Medicare Liens and Settlements Following United States v. Stricker
Dec 5 2011 // Reaching a settlement amount between the carrier and a plaintiff over a personal injury claim is sometimes the easiest part of a settlement where Medicare liens are involved. Medicare is a payer of last resort, which...
Arkansas Regulators no Longer Pursuing State-run Health Insurance Exchange
Dec 2 2011 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford has announced that planning efforts for an Arkansas-run health benefits exchange have ended. He stated that legislative opposition to developing an Arkansas exchange has quashed...
Most Health Insurers Meet Controversial Medical Loss Ratio
Dec 1 2011 // Most U.S. health insurers last year would have satisfied the much-disputed spending rules under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, according to a new report by a congressional watchdog agency. The rules...
Feds Reject Indiana Request for Health Care Waiver
Nov 30 2011 // The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rejected Indiana’s bid for an exemption from federal health care overhaul rules that require insurers selling policies to individuals to essentially dedicate 80...
Texas Regulator Abstains from MLR Vote; Says State Requested Waiver
Nov 29 2011 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has adopted a resolution urging Congress to amend the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to ensure...
Doctors Continue to Work While Under Investigation in Louisiana
Nov 22 2011 // Four Louisiana physicians wrote hundreds of bogus prescriptions that powered multimillion-dollar health-care frauds in the Baton Rouge area, according to evidence amassed by the nearly two-year-old local Medicare Fraud...
U.S. Healthcare Cuts Minimal, More Pain Looms
Nov 22 2011 // The breakdown of deficit talks in Congress will exact little pain on the U.S. healthcare industry, but it’s a temporary reprieve from steeper cuts that could be put back on the table in 2013. The failure of the...
Lawmaker: Oklahoma Cannot Wait On Insurance Exchange
Nov 17 2011 // A legislative panel exploring the impact of the new federal health care law on Oklahoma will likely suggest that the state should do the minimum amount required to comply with the act, the committee’s chairman...
Doctors Back ‘Open Market’ Health Insurance Exchanges for States
Nov 16 2011 // The American Medical Association added pressure on U.S. states to steer toward the system that opens doors to all insurers who meet minimum standards as they build up their health insurance exchanges. The influential...
North Dakota House Rejects Health Insurance Exchange
Nov 14 2011 // Angered by a federal health care law that most of them despise, North Dakota House Republicans defeated legislation to give state officials authority over a health insurance marketing agency that the law requires states to...
Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Hits New Low
Nov 14 2011 // The percentage of Americans who have health insurance through their employer slipped to a new low of 44.5 percent in the third quarter, a drop of over 5 percentage points in three years, according to a poll released...
Initiative to Expand California Prop 103 Ignites Insurance Battle
Nov 10 2011 // A ballot initiative to expand the scope of California’s Proposition 103 to include health insurance could also impact the auto insurance industry by challenging a long-sought-after initiative on auto insurance...
Company Health Plans Raising Costs for Smokers, Obese
Oct 31 2011 // Like a lot of companies, Veridian Credit Union wants its employees to be healthier. In January, the Waterloo, Iowa-company rolled out a wellness program and voluntary screenings. It also gave workers a mandate: quit...
Wall Street Protesters Target Health Insurers
Oct 28 2011 // Occupy Wall Street protesters held a speak-out and march in New York City targeting the health insurance industry. Several hundred protesters marched on Wednesday, Oct. 26, to the offices at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield,...
Capital BlueCross Begins Offering Insurance for Furry Pals
Oct 27 2011 // Harrisburg, Penn.-based health insurer Capital BlueCross is now offering insurance for the four-legged pals. The company said it is teaming up with Philadelphia-based pet insurance provider PetPlan to offer pet health...
IronHealth Launches New Program to Address Medicare Reporting Requirements
Oct 24 2011 // IronHealth, the specialty healthcare unit of Ironshore Inc., has introduced an insurance program to address the institutional risk exposure created by the specific reporting requirements of Section 111 of the Medicare,...
Citing Reform, Small Health Insurer Lays off Workers in Iowa, Nebraska
Oct 24 2011 // The parent company of American Republic has told employees in Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb., it is getting out of the individual major medical insurance business. The Des Moines Register reported 110 positions will be...
