Latest Health Insurance Headlines

All the headlines from our Health Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Modi’s Plan to Provide Health Insurance to Half a Billion Indians Hits Serious Hurdles

Jul 5 2018 // Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to provide health insurance to half a billion Indians — a mass of people larger than the entire population of South America — before he seeks a fresh mandate next year...

How Workers’ Compensation Outpatient Costs Compare Across States by Fee Regulation

Jun 29 2018 // Hospital outpatient payments were higher and growing faster in states with percent-of-charge-based fee regulations or no fee schedules, finds a study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) that compares 35...

How Insurance Plans Contribute to Opioid Epidemic: Johns Hopkins Study

Jun 22 2018 // Health care insurers including Medicare, Medicaid and major private insurers have not done enough to combat the opioid epidemic, suggests a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.The...

Surgery, Not Pharma, Is Biggest Healthcare Cost Worry: Gawande

Jun 22 2018 // Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon who was named this week to head the company being formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to trim employee healthcare costs, on Thursday cited surgery as the single biggest U.S....

Health Insurers Propose Lower Premiums for Minnesota Individual Market

Jun 19 2018 // Health insurers in Minnesota’s individual market are proposing mostly decreased premium rates for 2019, with average proposed decreases ranging from 3 percent to more than 12 percent for consumers, according to data...

Vermont to Require That All Have Health Insurance

Jun 18 2018 // Vermont is moving forward with its quest to ensure that as many residents as possible have health insurance by enacting a law that will require all to be covered or be penalized.The law, signed with no fanfare by...

Air Ambulances’ Sky-High Charges Leave Reimbursement Gaps, Lawsuits

Jun 11 2018 // When three-year-old West Cox’s fever hit 107 degrees, doctors called a helicopter.Hours earlier, the toddler, who’d been prescribed an antibiotic for a suspected ear infection, was at home in Princeton, West...

How Seniors Feel About Telemedicine

Jun 7 2018 // Every morning, 92-year-old Sidney Kramer wraps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and steps on a scale, and readings of his heart health beam to a team of nurses — and to his daughter’s smartphone — miles from...

Small Group Health Insurance Grew by 15% in Minnesota Last Year

Jun 4 2018 // The number of people covered by small group health insurance in Minnesota grew by 15 percent last year, ending a string of annual enrollment declines stretching back to 2004.Price hikes and tight limits last year on doctor...

Small Group Health Insurance Grew by 15% in Minnesota in 2017

May 30 2018 // The number of people covered by small group health insurance in Minnesota grew by 15 percent last year, ending a string of annual enrollment declines stretching back to 2004.Price hikes and tight limits last year on doctor...

California Workers’ Comp Division Suspends 3 Medical Providers for Fraud

May 24 2018 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has suspended three more medical providers from participating in the state’s workers’ comp system, bringing the total number of providers suspended to...

Uber Expands Health Insurance Benefit to Drivers in 21 European Countries

May 24 2018 // Uber plans to offer all its European drivers an upgraded version of the health insurance it already provides in France in a drive to attract independent workers and fend off criticism over their treatment.The San...

Growing Gig Economy in Search of Health Insurance Options

May 15 2018 // There are plenty of problems lurking on America’s career ladder, but here is a big one: our healthcare systems are designed for the workforce of 1950.If you have a lifetime corporate 9-to-5 gig, then you probably...

Insurers Seeking Major Premium Hikes for Obamacare Plans in 2019

May 8 2018 // The first glimpse of what health insurance companies plan to charge for Obamacare plans next year suggests there’s no relief ahead for consumers saddled with high premiums.Several insurers in Maryland and Virginia...

Regulators Looking at Health Insurance Reform Options in North Dakota

May 8 2018 // The North Dakota Insurance Department is seeking to work with a consultant in order to perform actuarial and other analysis of state proposals to reform North Dakota’s individual health insurance market, the agency...

Iowa Law Allowing Health Plans to Skirt ACA Signed by Governor

Apr 4 2018 // Iowa will allow people to buy a cheaper form of health insurance that skirts Affordable Care Act rules, under legislation signed into law by the state’s Republican governor.The law will allow Iowa’s Farm Bureau...

How Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Use; Saves Lives, Money

Apr 3 2018 // Medical marijuana laws could be a boon to those battling the opioid epidemic, according to researchers who have identified a link between increased access to medical marijuana and a reduction in opioid prescriptions.The...

Walmart Talking with Health Insurer Humana on Closer Ties, Possible Acquisition

Mar 30 2018 // U.S. retailer Walmart Inc. is in early-stage talks with health insurer Humana Inc. about developing closer ties, with the acquisition of Humana being discussed as one possibility, people familiar with the matter said on...

New Jersey Doctor Sentenced for Cheating Medicare, Insurers Out of $3M

Mar 29 2018 // A New Jersey doctor who defrauded Medicare and private insurers out of $3 million has been sentenced to three years in prison.Anthony Enrico, a podiatrist with offices in Paterson, Passaic, and Elizabeth, had pleaded...

How Trump Policies Contribute to Dire Scenario for Workers’ Compensation

Mar 26 2018 // At a time when the nation’s workers’ compensation system is facing an aging workforce and a pending widespread labor shortage, federal policies on immigration and health insurance promise to exacerbate these...