Ohio has decided to carve out Medicaid pharmacy in anticipation of the passage of a new federal law, the Drug Rebate Equalization Act. The Act will give managed care companies the same rebates – aroun…
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…
Several Tennessee-based companies are confident enough about the future of Medicare Advantage programs to launch expansions. Most notable in the group is BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the state’s…
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&#…
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…
The HealthLeaders-InterStudy Market Analyst team analyzes major developments at the nation’s publicly held health plans each quarter through their financial releases and conference call transcripts. T…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The HealthLeaders-InterStudy Market Analyst team analyzes major developments at the nation’s publicly held health plans each quarter through their financial releases and conference call transcripts. T…
The recession severely damaged Florida insurers in 2008 as the ranks of commercially insured members dropped by 1.2 million last year amid layoffs and benefit cuts at Florida businesses. Every signifi…
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…