Health Savings Account Membership Up 18 Percent
Enrollment in health savings accounts grew 18 percent last year as employers continued to steer workers into high-deductible medical plans, an insurance group said this morning. HSA membership rose from 11.4 million in January 2011 to 13.5 million in January 2012, with most of the growth occurring in plans offered by large employers, according to an annual census by America’s […]
These Health Law Bets Aren’t A Figure Of Speech
The stakes are high in the Supreme Court’s consideration of the 2010 health law, as countless commentators have observed. In some circles, however, the gambling metaphor has been pushed to its logical conclusion. Bernstein Research stock analyst Ana Gupte laid 50 percent odds recently on chances that the court will strike down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate along with strict […]
Health Care Employment Continues Growing Faster Than Other Sectors
Health-care employers continued hiring at a brisk pace last month even as overall employment growth slowed down, today’s jobs report shows. Hospitals, doctor offices and other medical employers added 19,000 jobs in April. That represents a sixth of the total April increase of 115,000 jobs, even though health care makes up only 11 percent of the employment […]
Conflicts Arise As Health Insurers Diversify
When a health insurer buys a business that helps hospitals win billing battles with insurers, alarm bells should sound, experts say.
Growth In Health Costs Limited As Americans Avoid Hospital Stays
Americans continued to seek moderate amounts of medical care in the first quarter, helping insurer UnitedHealth Group beat profit expectations amid signs of continued restraint in health-care spending. In an early look at medical-cost trends for 2012, the nation’s biggest private insurer said today that an increase in outpatient treatments from January through March was partly offset by a lack of growth […]
Health Care Hiring Boom Projected To Continue, Regardless Of Law
Health-care employment will continue to grow much faster than employment generally, with the number of jobs in home care and other ambulatory settings projected to jump more than 40 percent by 2020, a new study suggests. New figures from the Labor Department highlight an expected hiring shift away from hospitals, as the system puts greater emphasis on preventive […]
2010 Insurance Rebates Would Have Hit $2 Billion, Study Says
Consumers would have received rebates of nearly $2 billion — in some cases as much as $300 a member — if the health-law cap on insurance profits and overhead had been in place in 2010, estimates a new study. The paper, published Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, makes no predictions about the rebates that insurers will be required to pay this year for […]
Insurers Push Back On Consumer Rebate Letter
Consumers owed rebates will get a letter along with a check beginning in August, but insurers don’t want to have to send notices about the rebate rules to customers not owed money.
Health Industries Weigh In On Supreme Court Case
Insurers, hospitals and drug makers all cut deals to help shape the health law. Now, as the Supreme Court awaits arguments, the industry groups are deploying different strategies to defend their interests before the High Court.
New Insurer-Hospital ACO Touts Early Success
Illinois’ largest hospital system and biggest health insurer agreed in late 2010 to form an accountable care organization, a network in which the organizations would cooperate to boost quality and restrain cost increases, sharing in any savings. Chicago-based Advocate Health Care gambled that its portion would compensate for the lost revenue from the resulting empty beds. Now, with six months of operating […]
