BUFFALO, N.Y. – Two of western
’s largest health
insurers are the latest to sign on to a nationwide push to reform
how patient reimbursement rates are set.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says Independent Health and
HealthNow New York will no longer use a faulty database to
calculate reimbursement rates for patients who see doctors outside
their insurance networks.
,
Conn.-based
and MVP Healthcare of Albany.
Cuomo says the Ingenix database, Read the rest of this entry »

10:17 PM CST on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Texas Medical Association said Wednesday that a survey of doctors found that health insurers and government bureaucracy are hurting their ability to care for patients.
The survey of 850 Texas doctors underscores core problems with the health care system: Doctors are struggling to get paid and insurers are wrestling to keep costs under control.
The area’s largest insurers Read the rest of this entry »

The coverage at issue was established in 1996 by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. A key goal was ensuring that people who lost their jobs were able to remain insured. HIPAA works in tandem with COBRA, a federal law that extends job-based group insurance coverage, entirely at the individual’s expense, for up to three years after a person leaves or loses a job. (COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Read the rest of this entry »

SAN FRANCISCO—The city of San Francisco is accusing health insurers of discriminating against women by charging substantially higher premiums based solely on gender.
The allegations appear in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by City Attorney Dennis Herrera against California insurance and health care regulators.
In the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera alleges that gender-rating practices by health insurers are discriminatory and Read the rest of this entry »

Health insurers set rates so late in year, companies find budgeting hard
Every year at this time, Chuck Fried is faced with a dilemma.
The owner of technology firm TxMQ in Amherst must prepare a budget for the next year and get employees to enroll for health coverage. His wife has the same task with her adoption agency, Adoption STAR.
The problem: They usually don’t know how much the health insurance will cost, because the insurers Read the rest of this entry »

Shares of health insurers were battered throughout 2008, in part because of smaller profit margins bought on by years of price cuts. Analysts on Wednesday offered differing opinions on whether that will continue in 2009 and beyond.
Citi Investment Research analyst Charles Boorady said he thinks managed care providers will be able to post steadier margins in 2009 and 2010 because the recession is reducing their medical costs. However, an analyst Read the rest of this entry »

hold house parties to discuss ways of fixing the health care system over the next two weeks, they may find some unexpected guests.
industry is encouraging its employees and satisfied customers to attend. A trade group representing some of the nation’s largest health care businesses, including drug companies, is organizing several meetings. The
and other medical societies are encouraging doctors to get involved.
The Maine Medical Association Read the rest of this entry »

Low-cost generics, which are chemically identical to brand names they copy, account for two-thirds of the 3.9 billion prescriptions written yearly in the United States. Studies show they work equally well.
But brand names still account for 84 percent of total drug spending. So, health plans are asking consumers and doctors to try different drugs that have gone generic, such as cholesterol drug simvastatin (generic Zocor) at less than $1 per pill Read the rest of this entry »

for coverage, regardless of health status, the Associated Press reports. But insurers also favor a requirement for all Americans to have health insurance. Requiring health insurance for all is needed, according to industry analysts, because mandatory inclusion of both healthy and sick people would allow insurers to distribute risk over a larger group of people. Two health insurance trade organizations—
that each called for coverage of those Read the rest of this entry »

WellPoint Sees Easing of Medical Inflation, Sparking Insurers
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Health insurers gained as industry
leader
reported a smaller increase in medical
costs than analysts expected for the fourth quarter, a sign the
recession may keep expenses in check this year.
WellPoint, which covers one in nine Americans, said its
medical expenses increased less than 8 percent in the quarter, at
the low end of a forecast given in October. The Read the rest of this entry »