Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Busy Week For Insurance Companies Highlights Evolving Landscape For The Industry
It鈥檚 been a busy week for health insurers. First, UnitedHealth announced plans to pull out of most Obamacare exchanges. Cigna talked about taking a completely different tack, by expanding in those same exchanges. And we鈥檝e learned that Anthem is teaming up with 15 hospitals in Wisconsin to form a new insurance company. (Gorenstein, 4/20)
UnitedHealth Group, the nation鈥檚 biggest health insurer, recently said it will drop out of the Obamacare individual insurance market in all but 鈥渁 handful of states,鈥 raising concerns that other insurers could follow. ... But that doesn鈥檛 mean UnitedHealth UNH 2.63% is ditching the individual exchange market altogether鈥攁nd it鈥檚 not a sure signal that other large insurers will also ditch their Obamacare plans anytime soon. 鈥淭his is one company that never made a serious play for this market from the get-go, and it may not really be abandoning it,鈥 said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University鈥檚 Center on Health Insurance Reforms. (Lorenzetti, 4/20)
Roughly 18 months after Anthem rocked the healthcare business community with a new provider-insurance alliance in California, the health insurer has formulated another similar project. Anthem and Aurora Health Care will co-own a new health insurance company. (Herman, 4/20)
Marilyn Tavenner, a premier spokeswoman for insurers, is concerned about 2017 health care premiums. As president and CEO of America鈥檚 Health Insurance Programs, she says the culmination of market shifts that insurers have faced over several years will cause a stark rise in health insurance rates on Obamacare exchanges. 鈥淚鈥檝e been asked, what are the premiums going to look like? I don鈥檛 know, because it also varies by state, market, even within markets. But I think the overall trend is going to be higher than we saw previous years. That鈥檚 my big prediction,鈥 she said in a recent interview with Morning Consult. (Owens, 4/20)
Meanwhile, new research adds to growing evidence聽that federal programs are having a profound impact on health care for children聽鈥
Evidence continues to pile up that federal health care programs are working to reduce dramatically the number of uninsured Americans -- especially children and low-income families. (Pianin, 4/20)