Premium increases moderated in the Carolinas in 2008 with health plan costs per employee rising by 6 percent to 10 percent, but the increases are expected to accelerate in the coming months. Brokers a…
The war of words over the proposed merger of Highmark Inc and Independence Blue Cross reached continued with testimony from Highmark officials that they would not move into IBC's Philadelphia serv…
Wisconsin has received approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to expand its BadgerCare Plus healthcare initiative, giving the state the ability to use federal funds to provide…
The small-group market in Florida posted 5 percent gains in enrollment at mid 2008, but the economic recession is likely to put a damper on small-group business in a state relying on the troubled indu…
Kansas City is the new home of a major pilot initiative for value-based insurance design, with major employers pulling together to gather and evaluate data needed to calculate results of VBID moves.
Ground zero for job losses is the financial sector in New York, and insurers are bracing for membership declines. The jobless may have a difficult time finding low-cost individual policies in New York…
The Oregon Legislature will have a big task ahead as it considers how to implement a broad plan by Oregon's Health Fund Board to insure every resident of the state. The proposal is as ambitious in…
The consumer-driven health plan movement is undergoing a shakeup in California with health plans passing along double-digit rate increases for renewing customers to make up for losses on the high-dedu…
The shift in employers' attitudes toward wellness and healthcare cost management has brought workplace health clinics back into vogue, mostly among large self-insured businesses, but also among so…
Enrollment in Illinois HMOs continues to decline with the most recent data from HealthLeaders-InterStudy showing a 14 percent decrease from the year before. HMOs now comprise about 18 percent of the c…
Iowa's dominant insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa, has unveiled its new Blue Transitions product aimed at drawing more of Iowa's farmers into high-deductible health plans.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas is the immovable behemoth of the Texas market with more than 4.2 million members, but the race for second place is hotly contested, and Aetna has earned silver by leapi…
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama is Goliath in that state's insurance arena, but national plans are picking up Alabama members too. The insurance market is widening in Huntsville and Mobile t…
Minnesota is bucking the national trend with growing HMO enrollment while at the same time defying a national movement to significant growth in self-insured products. Market leader Blue Cross and Blue…
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has pulled out of Nevada's Medicaid program, citing low reimbursements and little prospect of improvement given the state's strained budget. AMERIGROUP has jumped…