Massachusetts' largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is embracing one of the latest trends in pharmacy benefit management, that of value-based benefit design. The Boston-based health pla…
With all eyes focused on the national healthcare reform debate, California is already tackling many of the same thorny issues raised by policymakers. Healthy San Francisco, the city/county’s 2-year-ol…
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…
Big contracts were renewed or awarded for the first time in the Mid-Atlantic this summer. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (the largest health insurance carrier in Virginia) and Kaiser Permanente wil…
Texas has taken its largest step yet toward addressing the nation's worst uninsured rate by green-lighting the first step toward Healthy Texas, a reinsurance program that could allow small busines…
The winds of change are about to reshape the TriState health insurance market, starting with the announcement that UnitedHealth Group is planning to buy Health Net of the Northeast within 12 months. I…
Colorado has kicked off a broad medical home project in 17 primary care practices around the state. Those physicians will receive standard fee-for-service, a monthly care management fee and bonuses fo…
Two collaborative efforts involving multiple health insurers in Pennsylvania have the potential to improve the quality of healthcare in the state. The first is a transparency effort involving how care…
Both Virginia and Maryland lawmakers took steps to make insurance for small businesses more affordable in their 2009 sessions. In Virginia, lawmakers passed legislation allowing health plan designs to…
Faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases from the state, New York health plans are hunkering down for a lean 2009. Four of the 10 major carriers in the state posted net losses in 20…
Georgia is a testing ground for new product designs for group and individual buyers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia has introduced new products geared to those who want coverage for essentials,…
Even as health plans struggle to retain members in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, moves are under way to redesign health benefits both by the private and public sec…
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…
Managed Medicaid is the centerpiece of Louisiana's health reform initiative, Louisiana Health First, which has finally taken shape after years of planning. State officials are betting that a coord…
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…