Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Anthem's Profits Boosted By Medicaid Expansion
Anthem has hiked its quarterly cash payout to shareholders by nearly 43 percent to keep up with its rising stock price after edging past Wall Street forecasts for the recently completed fourth quarter. ... Investors have been warming up to health insurance stocks for a few years now after watching the sector weather taxes, fees and other changes brought by the health care overhaul, the massive federal law that aims to cover millions of uninsured people. They now see much less uncertainty ahead for the industry. (1/28)
The country鈥檚 second-largest health insurance company said Wednesday that it far outpaced its enrollment expectations last year, with most of that growth coming from the expansion of Medicaid in dozens of states. Insurance giant Anthem enrolled 1.8 million new customers in 2014, with nearly half of the new plans coming from Medicaid programs, its chief executive told reporters Wednesday. (Ferris, 1/28)
Meanwhile, some of the nation's largest providers and insurers agree to聽shift 75% of their business to contracts with incentives for quality and lower costs -
Several of the nation's largest health systems and insurers are joining together in a new task force with the goal of shifting 75% of their business to contracts with incentives for quality and lower-cost healthcare. The Health Care Transformation Task Force includes some of the largest U.S. health systems, including Ascension, St. Louis, and Trinity Health, Livionia, Mich., and insurance giants Aetna and Health Care Service Corp. Employer Caesars Entertainment and the Pacific Business Group on Health also are involved. (Evans, 1/28)
