The Illinois insurance market is poised to be hit by rising unemployment that is hitting the factory towns of Peoria, Rockford and Bradley-Kankakee. These markets are typically led by Blue Cross Blue…
Tennessee's unemployment rate grew to 8.6 percent in January, and the number of mass layoffs in Tennessee more than doubled in the 2008 fourth quarter compared to a year ago. Things can still get…
The struggling economy in Florida, burdened by the bust of the real estate and construction boom, resulted in enrollment losses in 2008 and is all but sure to continue into 2009. Insurers are reacting…
Changes in Oregon's regulation of small-group health plans are causing major fluctuations in rates for some groups, and creating opportunities for companies willing to respond to the new realities…
As a former boom state in the midst of the bust, Arizona's healthcare economy is taking a bigger hit than other areas of the country. One plan is a likely acquisition target. While the biggest ins…
Illinois' economy is tanking along with the rest of the country, and health plans are bracing for losses in membership as banking and manufacturing businesses lay off workers, shut down, or elimin…
Colorado Medicaid officials are asking for legislative approval to expand managed care into Medicaid in a much bigger way by 2010. They propose to phase in the movement to managed care through regions…
The District of Columbia is targeting CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in an effort to capture a portion of the large nonprofit's reserves for a new program serving the uninsured. The District has h…
The economic downturn is wreaking havoc on employers nationwide and statewide, leaving insurers grappling with eroding enrollment, and more cost-shifting pressures from healthcare providers. Against t…
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…
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…
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…