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Humana Inc. announced on Jan. 30 plans to increase the number of CenterWell Senior Primary Care centers. The company will open centers in three new markets (Asheville, North Carolina, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Orleans) and add centers in eight markets where it already operates. CenterWell Senior Primary Care and Conviva Care Center, both affiliates of Humana, delivered care to about 295,000 seniors in nearly 300 centers as of the end of last year. The planned expansion comes as Humana struggles in its main Medicare Advantage business line. The company announced on Jan. 25 that it expects to generate about $16 in adjusted earnings per share this year, down significantly from its previous guidance, due to higher-than-expected utilization from its MA members. Humana is currently the second-largest MA insurer nationally, with 5,859,064 members.

Blues stalwart Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC) will buy the Cigna Group’s Medicare Advantage business in a $3.7 billion deal. Cigna CEO David Cordani in a Jan. 31 press release said the selloff will “enable Cigna to drive meaningful value for all our stakeholders, providing an enhanced ability to accelerate investment and growth in our services platform, while further deepening our commitment to our existing health benefits platform.” HCSC currently enrolls 204,600 MA members across its five Blues plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. With Cigna’s 587,400 MA members, the deal will grow HCSC’s national MA market share from 0.62% to 2.40%.

An advocacy group is working to bring Medicaid expansion to the ballot in Florida’s 2026 elections, according to a Feb. 1 report in the Tallahassee Democrat. Organizers will need to collect nearly 1 million signatures, but expansion initiatives have already been successful in seven other states. Florida currently serves 5.09 million Medicaid beneficiaries, with 73% enrolled in managed care plans. More than 1.4 million people could become eligible for Medicaid under expansion, the campaign manager for the group, Florida Decides Healthcare, said at a press conference.

Blue Shield of California’s Promise Health Plan is launching a no-cost service to help its Medicaid members obtain a GED. Offered via GEDWorks’ online platform, members can access study materials in English and Spanish, one-on-one tutoring, practice tests and personal advisors. "Lack of education is a barrier for many people trying to achieve economic, physical, and mental wellbeing," Jennifer Schirmer, vice president of Blue Shield Promise, said in a statement. "Removing that barrier can change lives. Education not only opens the door to employment opportunities, it gives people the tools to better understand how to be an active partner in their health.” The insurer currently serves 149,580 California Medicaid beneficiaries.

Medical Mutual on Jan. 29 unveiled a deal to acquire Toledo, Ohio-based insurer Paramount Health. Paramount is a subsidiary of ProMedica, a system of 11 hospitals that serves Ohio and Michigan. “As ProMedica has further sharpened its focus on core health system operations, we embarked on a thoughtful process to transition ownership of our Paramount health insurance business,” ProMedica CEO Arturo Polizzi said in a statement. “We were hopeful we could identify a potential new owner with a similar mission and commitment to community, and we found those qualities in Medical Mutual.” Paramount currently serves 72,303 health plan members in Ohio, with an additional 3,020 members in Michigan. Medical Mutual, meanwhile, is the fourth-largest insurer in the state, with 1,010,088 members. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, were not disclosed.

Medicaid insurer CareSource this month unveiled its Rural Access Advancement Program, a “lifeline” that provides emergency funding to rural Georgia hospitals in danger of closing due to cash flow issues. “The Rural Access Advancement Program will assist rural hospitals and hospital-owned skilled nursing home facilities in rural areas in times of critical cash deficits that might otherwise lead to service limitations or hospital closures,” the insurer wrote in a press release. “Once the facility has stabilized, the funds will be repaid and reinvested into the program.” CareSource currently serves 513,043 Medicaid members in Georgia.

The FDA on Jan. 19 granted Johnson & Johnson’s Balversa (erdafitinib) full approval for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma in patients with susceptible FGFR3 genetic alterations who have already received at least one other line of therapy. The FGFR kinase inhibitor was received accelerated approval in 2019 for use in patients with susceptible mutations on the FGFR3 or FGFR2 genes after platinum-based chemotherapy. Notably, patients that have not received a prior PD-1/L1 therapy are ineligible to use Balversa. For the treatment of bladder cancer, the once-daily pill holds covered or betters status for 95% of all insured lives. Just 17% have preferred access, largely with utilization management restrictions applied.

Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment has climbed to 21.3 million during the annual open enrollment period, which ended in most states after Jan. 15 but continues through Jan. 31 in four states and Washington, D.C. Even with more signups to be counted, however, marketplace enrollment has climbed “nearly 5 million people higher” than the total number tallied during last year’s open enrollment. Biden administration officials credited the availability of enhanced subsidies for marketplace enrollees, which were first enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, and increased investment in Navigator programs that help consumers find the right coverage. There were 17,722,797 exchange enrollees as of the third quarter of 2023, according to AIS’s Directory of Health Plans.

The West Virginia Department of Human Services last week selected Highmark Health to serve the state’s managed Medicaid program. The 4-year contract is slated to begin July 1. “We appreciate the trust the state has shown in us through this selection,” Jason Landers, West Virginia president of Highmark Health Options, said in a statement. “It's an honor and privilege to serve all West Virginians, and a responsibility we don’t take lightly. We are excited to provide a Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plan that will make the state proud.” West Virginia’s Medicaid program is also served by CVS Health’s Aetna, The Health Plan of West Virginia and Elevance Health’s UniCare. Of the state’s 513,000 Medicaid beneficiaries, 84% are enrolled in managed care plans.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina last week completed its deal to purchase all North Carolina locations of FastMed, a chain of urgent care clinics that also offer primary care, telehealth and preventive care, for an undisclosed sum. The deal includes 55 FastMed locations. “With approximately half of FastMed’s clinics located in rural areas of our state with limited access to health care resources, I believe this is a vital investment in North Carolina,” Tunde Sotunde, Blue Cross NC’s CEO, said in a statement. The Blues affiliate is the largest insurer in its home state, serving 2,343,259 members.