In Georgia and Louisiana, state government is the largest employer and insures the largest group of people. In both states, cost saving changes are under way. Louisiana is looking at privatizing its s…
A change in pharmacy benefit management at California's largest health insurer paves the way for a gradual shift in focus to home delivery of medications, particularly generics. Analysts say the p…
Independence Blue Cross is one of the state’s largest health insurers, but is one of the last to cover its members’ self-injected specialty drugs under the medical benefit. But that’s changing in 2010…
Employers in North Carolina and South Carolina are turning to so-called hybrid plans to help them continue to offer coverage in one of the regions worst hit by job losses. The hybrid plans combine fea…
In what could end up as a budget buster for the state, Maryland's Medicaid rolls went up by more than 90,000 from July 2008 to October 2009. The recession accounted for some of that rise just as…
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City has engaged a medical home pilot with TransforMED, bringing new technologies to 13 medical practices in its operating regions. The practices can build the med…
The HMO subsidiary of Michigan's largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has begun the process to purchase an independent, Lansing-based HMO, Physicians Health Plan of Mid-Michi…
The individual health insurance markets in New York and New Jersey are a study in contrasts, despite the fact both are highly regulated to guarantee residents a certain level of coverage. New Jersey&#…
Group Health's governance as a nonprofit member-owned cooperative has attracted national attention recently as healthcare reform discussions in Washington DC look toward insurance cooperatives as…
A new agreement between Caterpillar and Walgreens could point the way to a change in drug dispensing for large employers. Under this agreement, Caterpillar contracts directly with Walgreens, where 100…
A stagnant economy and record unemployment have prompted health insurers to alter their plan designs and drug formularies in the Nevada market. HMO market share has eroded by 8 percentage points betwe…
Though Iowa has the second lowest health insurance premium rates nationwide, brokers and industry insiders warn that premiums, which went up 11 percent for many Iowa businesses over the last year, are…
Three major insurers — Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Humana and UnitedHealthcare — have teamed up with 11 local physician group practices and a local organization to pilot a patient-centered m…
Minnesota health plans are facing the specter of rising specialty drug costs and are implementing a variety of strategies to control those costs, including shifting specialty drugs from the medical be…
Pennsylvania stands out from most states because of the dominance of four Blue Cross Blue Shield plans that operate, for the most part, exclusively in their own territories. Whether the Blue plans’ un…