Medicare's annual open enrollment period began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. During this time, all Medicare beneficiaries can shop around and select new plan. However, many enrollees may face significantly higher premiums in 2016.
Payer
The following insurers made headlines this week. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.
A new contract between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Health System creates lower insurance rates for Minnesota state employees, according to the Mankato Free Press.
A Knoxville, Tenn.-based insurer will stop offering plans in 2016, making it the sixth insurance co-op formed under the Affordable Care Act to shut its doors, according to The Hill.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Good Start Genetics, a molecular diagnostics company, has partnered with insurance giant UnitedHealthcare to provide millions of Americans with access to Good Start's genetic screening tests.
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With groundbreaking insurer mega-mergers on the horizon, hospitals are considering growing their own insurance plans, according to a Reuters report.
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation are donating $1 million to South Carolina nonprofit organizations aiding flood victims, according to SCNow.com.
Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn., and UnitedHealthcare/Oxford Health Plans have reached an agreement after a more than two-month impasse, according to a Hartford Courant report.
While trust in many healthcare institutions is at an all-time low, it remains critical to patients making decisions on hospitals and health plans, according to a 2015 National Healthcare Trust Index from PARTNERS+simons, a Myelin Communications-owned firm specializing in brand…
Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurance company formed under the Affordable Care Act, will not offer health insurance plans on Kentucky's health insurance marketplace when open enrollment for 2016 coverage begins Nov. 1.