At a time when many states are looking to pare back healthcare programs as a way to close budget deficits, Wisconsin is taking the opposite route. Despite facing a gloomy nationwide economic forecast…
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…
Economic turmoil is nothing new in Michigan, where the auto industry's woes continue to get worse, and job losses and layoffs continue to shrink the healthcare market. Against that backdrop, Blue…
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…
Commercial membership in California health plans dropped by 12 percent in the first six months of 2008, according to data from HealthLeaders-InterStudy, and insurers are bracing for an additional drop…
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…
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 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…
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…