Texas employers are making only minor benefit changes to retain grandfathered status, including small increases to drug copays. The next state budget includes a major expansion of managed Medicaid and…
Health plans in Wisconsin and Minnesota are rolling out new suites of wellness products that offer premium discounts, among other perks, for hitting specified wellness targets. Minnesota's State E…
Type 2 diabetes is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, blindness, renal failure and neurologic dysfunction in the United States. Current epidemiologic studies estimate that nearly 24 million Am…
New York health plans are under more pressure than ever to keep a lid on rates, but their requests for premium increases have been curtailed under the new prior approval law. As one alternative, carri…
In the face of reimbursement pressures and uncertainty, Florida's Medicare and Medicaid insurers have tweaked their offerings as part of strategies to continue enrollment growth while the state…
Chronic pain syndromes of neuropathic, nociceptive and mixed origins cause substantial human suffering and disability. Despite the number of pain therapies marketed in the U.S., there remains an unfil…
BC/BS of Michigan, the heavyweight among Michigan carriers, is reacting to both the downed economy and strides made by its nearest competitor, Priority Health, by launching in 2011 a new slimmed-down…
Outside of changes related to healthcare reform, most insurers avoided major changes to benefit design for 2011. UnitedHealth Group launched a pilot in Phoenix and other markets which reimburses the Y…
The insurance market in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana reacted to new reform rules that began this fall. Employers with group plans were forced to decide whether or not to pursue grandfather status with t…
The only plans in the South seeing significant enrollment growth are Medicaid and Medicare plans. Congress' approval of another FMAP extension is enabling states to avoid deep Medicaid cuts for no…
More employer groups are offering high deductible health plans as the sole offering to their employees due to recessionary pressures. Employers are banking on these plans as ways to save on health car…
Sorting out the complexities of healthcare reform has kept health plans and employer groups busy this enrollment season, overshadowing the typical product innovation seen this time of year. Financiall…
Thanks to healthcare reform, prodding by the federal government and new benefit designs, we’re seeing substantial changes in store with the market.With the rollout of new Medicare plans for 2011, we’r…
The asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) market represents a brand-dominated market that could face substantial changes over the next few years by the possible arrival of generic me…
Immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis produce a substantial amount of human suffering and disability. Biol…