Cigna, Humana See COVID Costs Creep Up in Fourth Quarter
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has had a largely positive impact on health insurers’ bottom lines — given the sheer magnitude of deferred routine and elective care — two publicly traded payers’ recent fourth...
Nearly 9 Million People Could Benefit From Broadened ACA Enrollment Period
by Jinghong Chen
President Joe Biden on Jan. 28 signed an executive order to reopen the federal health exchange from Feb.15 through May 15. During that special enrollment period, 4 million uninsured people will b...
News Briefs
✦ UnitedHealth Group will make Optum CEO Andrew Witty its next CEO, succeeding retiring CEO David Wichmann, who has held the top job since 2017. Witty has run UnitedHealth’s PBM, hospital, finance and data analy...
Experts Call on Congress To Boost Medicaid Funding
Democratic majorities in Congress and the Biden administration can move quickly to bolster Medicaid and expand enrollment in the safety net program, according to a Feb. 3 expert panel convened by the Brookings Insti...
Executive Order Aims to Boost ACA Exchanges, Medicaid
President Joe Biden on Jan. 28 launched his Affordable Care Act-centric health insurance agenda with an executive order that will reopen the federal health exchange for a special enrollment period. The administratio...
2021 Outlook: Employer Groups Want Legislation on Drug Pricing, Telehealth
Trade groups representing employer health plan sponsors have a busy lobbying agenda for 2021 now that Democrats control the presidency and both chambers of Congress. The trade groups, the ERISA Industry Committee (E...
Equities Analysts Downplay Anthem’s 2021 Guidance Slip
Anthem, Inc.’s stock value dropped roughly 7% in early trading on Jan. 27 after the insurer reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 financial results, but it wasn’t the company’s performance last year t...
Who Would Benefit From Removing Employer Coverage ‘Firewall’?
Between 6% and 13% of people in nonelderly households with employer-sponsored coverage could pay lower premiums in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces if there was no longer a “firewall” preventing people who h...
Report: CMS Should Integrate Social Factors Into Payment
As CMS re-evaluates its priorities under the new Biden administration, it should seriously consider making policy changes that integrate “drivers of health” (DOH) into payment policies for Medicare, Medicaid and...
News Briefs
✦ Effective July 1, 2021, Humana Inc. will become the fifth Medicaid managed care organization to contract with South Carolina, the insurer said on Jan. 27. Centene Corp., Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina,...