Payer

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R)'s Alabama Health Care Improvement Task Force approved a recommendation to find a way to provide health insurance coverage for uninsured Alabamans, according to AL.com.

The following insurers made headlines this week. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and Buffalo, N.Y.-based Catholic Health have settled a lawsuit and renewed a three-year contract agreement, according to Buffalo Business First.

In an effort to improve patients' health and save money, health insurers have begun paying data miners to unearth patients' personal information, according to STAT.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote a letter to UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley asking the insurer to reconsider departing from the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, according to the Hartford Courant.

PPO plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace declined significantly from 2015 to 2016, with 28 percent dropped and 39 percent reduced, according to a report from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Akron, Ohio-based HealthSpan will dissolve its medical group, HealthSpan Physicians, on March 31, 2016, and close its 11 health facilities in Ohio.

The Department of Health and Human Services is working with pharmacies across the nation to encourage enrollment on the health insurance marketplace.

Chicago-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois entered into an agreement with the Chicago-based University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System to begin serving its UI Health Plus Members.

Another nonprofit health insurance co-op will not sell individual health insurance plans for 2016, according to Bangor Daily News.