The Walmart Opportunity: Can Retailers Revamp Primary Care?
Just as Walmart and other retailers shook up the pharmacy business by offering $4 generic drugs, the industry now aims to apply its clout to tackle unpredictable costs, a lack of primary care doctors and inefficient management of chronic illnesses.
Does Walmart aim to be a major player in the world of primary care health services – or not? A request for information letter the retailer sent to its strategic partners in late October says the firm wants just that – but Walmart backed off on its own document Wednesday, calling part of it “overwritten […]
Walmart Wants To Be Nation’s Biggest Primary Care Provider
According to confidential documents obtained by KHN, Walmart is seeking to become the largest provider of primary health care in the United States in order to “lower the cost of health care.” Analysts say Walmart could also be trying to get more people in their stores.
Big Insurer Fights Back In Court Against Regulation Of Profit Margin
The case brought by Anthem Health Plans of Maine could have regulatory repercussions around the country.
CLASS Dismissed: Obama Administration Pulls Plug On Long-Term Care Program
KHN staff writers Julie Appleby and Mary Agnes Carey report that federal officials have effectively shut down part of the health care law aimed to help consumers pay for long-term care.
Advisory Panel Says Essential Health Benefits Package Must Be Affordable
The Department of Health and Human Services now must decide what benefits should be required in policies sold through insurance exchanges beginning in 2014.
Costs Of Employer Insurance Plans Surge in 2011
An annual survey has found that the average cost of a family health insurance plan rose 9 percent this year – triple the growth rate seen in 2010. KHN’s Julie Appleby filed this story.
Companies Steering Workers To Lower Priced Medical Care
Businesses want employees to be more sensitive to the cost of medical care, but consumer advocates worry that decisions will be based on price, not quality.
Trade Group, Other ‘Association’ Health Plans To Face Rate Hike Scrutiny
Insurers who offer “association health plans,” which are often sold through trade groups or other organizations of affiliated members, will face the same scrutiny of premium rate hikes as other types of insurance, federal officials said Thursday. The decision came in a rule clarifying that insurers offering association health plans will be required to provide justification […]
N.C. Employers Embrace Medicaid Medical Home Network
North Carolina employers are trying to find out if there really is no place like home. As in medical homes, that is. For the first time, people with job-based insurance in the state will soon be offered a chance to tap into a well-known medical home network that has primarily served Medicaid enrollees since 1998. […]
Workers Squeezed As Employers Pass Along High Costs Of Specialty Drugs
Employers struggling to keep down insurance costs are increasingly requiring workers to pay a percentage of high-cost drugs rather than a modest co-pay.
Employers: Health Plans Will Take Bigger Bite Out Of Next Year’s Paychecks
Expect to pay more for your job-based health care coverage next year, as employers continue a trend of passing along rising costs to workers. Fifty-three percent of large employers surveyed by the National Business Group on Health said they would increase the amount workers pay toward their premiums next year, although most said the rise would be […]
Health Insurance Premiums Vary Widely, Report Says
How much does health insurance cost? It’s a deceptively simple question to ask, but a notoriously difficult one to answer, especially for people who buy their own coverage because they don’t get it through their jobs. A report released today adds to what has so far been a limited data pool attempting to answer the […]
States Face Challenges In Controlling Health Insurance Premiums
The federal health care law gives officials new tools to help hold down rates, but states’ authority and political will still vary widely.
Study: New Coverage Will Boost Demand For Rural Providers
The percentage of rural Americans with insurance could grow faster than those in urban areas under the federal health care overhaul law, a boon for the newly insured, but one that will put additional pressure on areas already short of doctors, a study out today says. About 5 million more rural Americans will have coverage […]
Medical Loss Ratio Deadline Extended For Two States
Iowa and Kentucky late Friday joined the list of states granted extra time for health insurers to meet rules requiring at least 80 percent of revenue on medical care. North Dakota’s request was rejected. That brings to five the number of state granted more time by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The health […]
FAQ: Seniors May See Changes in Medigap Policies
As debt limit talks drag on, lawmakers are eying possible changes in Medicare supplemental plans – moves that could increase seniors’ out-of-pocket costs.
Insurance Commissioners Back Away From Broker Bill
This post was updated at 5:47 p.m. Brokers hoping that the nation’s top insurance regulators would endorse a controversial bill now pending in Congress had their hopes dimmed Tuesday. “We’re looking for solutions other than changing federal law,” said Kevin McCarty, Florida’s insurance commissioner. Late last month, a McCarty-headed committee of the National Association of Insurance […]
After Much Scrutiny, HHS Releases Health Insurance Exchange Rules
Industry and consumer groups are poring over more than 200 pages of long-awaited proposed federal rules on state-based insurance exchanges, a critical element of the federal health law.
Obesity Rate Ballooning, Report Says
Americans are continuing to supersize – adult obesity rates increased in 16 states last year and did not go down in a single state – raising health risks and ultimately adding to the cost of health care, according to a study out today. Just four years ago, only one state had obesity rates above 30 […]
