Reimbursement

Seven years after Congress passed a landmark law banning discrimination in the treatment of mentally ill people, many families and their advocates complain it stubbornly persists, largely because insurers are subverting the law in subtle ways and the government is not aggressively enforcing it.

Under Hemingway Hall, HCSC's insurers added 3 million in membership, including in ACA exchanges, and the company tried to adapt and diversify, including adopting new information technology and preparing to contract in Medicaid.

Pat Hemingway Hall, one of the most successful female executives in the health insurance industry, is leaving behind a giant nonprofit company that is still evolving.

In addition to the payment change, CMS said it will begin penalizing skilled nursing facilities in 2018 that fail to report quality measures as part of the agency's shift towards value-based reimbursement.

Assurant is advancing plans to wind down its once-profitable health insurance business, though apparently has not found a buyer for it.

Like most mergers and acquisitions, the Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna deals will need a fair amount of cultural alignment to yield the market complementaries and business synergies being promised amid the record-breaking valuations.

Assurant, one of the most profitable home and life insurers, is advancing its plans to leave the health insurance business and sell off a subsidiary in an attempt to cut its losses on the sector.

Another ACA-funded co-op is going under, dissolving rather than confront an "unhealthy future." Many of the others are also struggling to stay in the black.

Premiums for 1.3 million Covered California consumers will rise an average 4 percent, slightly less than last year's increase of 4.2 percent.