Federal Health Insurance Marketplace

Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Aetna

by Vera Gruessner

A shareholder class action lawsuit has been filed against the national health insurance company Aetna Inc., according to a press release from the law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer &...

Key Best Practices for Success on the Health Insurance Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

Which healthcare insurers are succeeding in the health insurance exchanges? What best practices can be taken from these payers? The weekly newsletter Washington Health Policy Week in Review published...

6.4 Million Enrollees Sign Up on Affordable Care Act Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

As of December 21, a total of 6.4 million consumers have enrolled in health plans through the Affordable Care Act exchanges on HealthCare.gov, reported the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...

ACA Health Insurance Exchanges Bring Challenges for 2017

by Vera Gruessner

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance exchanges will have some key differences next year. Health insurance companies have faced various obstacles when selling health plans through the...

How 4 Healthcare Payers Fare in 2016’s Health Insurance Market

by Vera Gruessner

The health insurance market has gone through significant changes in 2016. A number of payers have pulled back from the health insurance exchanges such as UnitedHealth and Humana. The Department of...

Patient Engagement Helps Payers on Affordable Care Act Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

Many health insurance companies selling health plans through the Affordable Care Act exchanges have been seeing higher and higher rates of financial losses. Some payers such as Aetna, Humana, and...

Payers See High Financial Losses on Health Insurance Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

Healthcare payers have been facing significant financial losses on the health insurance exchanges in recent years. UnitedHealth Group lost $475 million in 2015 and was predicting a loss of $650 million...

Payers Continue to Drop Out of the Health Insurance Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

Healthcare payers have seen significant obstacles when it comes to operating on the public health insurance exchanges with large, national insurance companies losing money through this marketplace....

How Health Payers Could Help Reduce High Out-of-Pocket Costs

by Vera Gruessner

A major problem still impacting consumers within the health insurance market is the potential for seeing high out-of-pocket costs. Many individuals are still underinsured despite the significant...

Affordable Care Act Replacement Seeks Automatic Enrollment

by Vera Gruessner

Since the Presidential election of Donald J. Trump, a number of differing viewpoints came out emphasizing how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be impacted. For the last several...

Anthem-Cigna Health Insurance Merger Suit Starts on November 21

by Vera Gruessner

The lawsuit against the Anthem-Cigna health insurance merger had its first pretrial conference this past Monday, according to The Coalition to Protect Patient Choice. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that...

Health Insurance Exchanges Require Engagement, Narrow Networks

by Vera Gruessner

Since some private health payers are struggling with enrollment and the ability to make a profit on the health insurance exchanges, engaging consumers, reducing the administrative burden, and creating...

Blue Cross to Expand Value-Based Care Reimbursement in 2017

by Vera Gruessner

The coming years will further position the medical industry including payers to adopt value-based care reimbursement models and new healthcare delivery systems partially due to the reforms that came...

The Progress and Challenges of the Affordable Care Act

by Vera Gruessner

Before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law on March 23, 2010, the healthcare industry faced a number of obstacles particularly in terms of providing medical care and health insurance to many low-income families...

How Payers Could Compete in Midst of Health Insurance Mergers

by Vera Gruessner

Among the payers facing a Department of Justice lawsuit against their health insurance mergers, Aetna and Humana have requested sanctions due to the government allegedly delaying the release of...

High-Deductible Health Plan Consumers Seek Price Transparency

by Vera Gruessner

Families and individuals who have purchased healthcare coverage on the ACA health insurance exchanges may have seen that monthly premium rates are expected to rise 25 percent in 2017, but should be...

Premium Rates on Affordable Care Act Exchanges Rise 25% in 2017

by Vera Gruessner

Monthly premium costs on the Affordable Care Act exchanges is expected to rise an average of 25 percent in 2017, according to a report from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). This...

Private Payers Face Challenges on Health Insurance Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

The health insurance exchanges created after passage of the Affordable Care Act may not serve as a truly effective marketplace for commercial payers since some national insurers like Aetna and...

How a Public Option May Preserve Health Insurance Exchanges

by Vera Gruessner

Multiple healthcare payers have been struggling with operating successfully on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges. Some experts and lawmakers suggest that establishing a public...

Revisions to Affordable Care Act May Improve Payer Performance

by Vera Gruessner

Health insurance executives have faced various regulatory challenges since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Payers have had to participate in new health insurance...