Healthcare Finance Staff

Amid a mulligan of sorts for a large state insurance exchange, an insurer with a new mission is using the old tactic of tapping brokers in a bid to vie in the big leagues.

The federal government is clamping down hard on some profit-focused patient referral and healthcare joint venture practices, although the company in question appears unfazed as it enters new forays, including some with insurers.

Will the pay-ins and payouts in the 3Rs be enough to leave insurers, and the programs, whole? Early data is offering a window into the possible dynamics. 

An established but growing player in the health insurance technology space is looking to get big and serious.

As cardiovascular disease becomes a greater risk for both older and younger Americans, there may be new grounds for steering members away from traditional diagnostics.

"Isn't that covered by ObamaCare?" Public understanding of the Affordable Care Act has not been great, with a fair amount of confusion about key provisions and benefits detected by surveys.

Insurers that trace their ancestry back to the first days of American health insurance are now facing potentially existential challenges.

Trying to wean themselves off fee-for-service reimbursement, some health systems may be taking a non-committal strategy, dipping their toes in the water before deciding if they want to learn to swim. Insurers should be looking for more than that, if they can offer the right expertise.

Insurance consultants were shocked recently to learn that Obama administration rules allow large companies to offer 2015 worker health plans that don't include hospital benefits. Now the administration is concerned too.

Passing a key corporate milestone, UnitedHealth Group is on track to have a banner year, while trying to reshape large swaths of American healthcare.