Blue Cross and Blue Shield members in the health insurer's Blue365 wellness program can purchase Fitbits at a reduced cost under a new partnership announced Aug. 7.
Payer
Pittsburgh-based UPMC and Aetna inked a new agreement to ensure the health insurer's commercial and Medicare Advantage members will remain in network with UPMC facilities and physicians, the companies said Aug. 2.
In 2006, 11.4 percent of private-sector employees were enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. That percentage rose to 46.5 percent in 2016, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs.
Humana CEO and President Bruce Broussard is joining former President Barack Obama as a recipient of the 2018 Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization.
Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Evolent Health is trying to change how providers get paid.
Humana filed a lawsuit Aug. 3 against nearly 30 pharmaceutical companies, alleging they united to fix the prices of widely used generic drugs, forcing the health insurer to pay inflated prices.
Billionaire Carl Icahn, an activist investor holding about 0.5 percent of Cigna, publicly opposed the health insurer's $54 billion bid for Express Scripts Aug. 7.
Starting Aug. 6, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas will no longer pay for out-of-network emergency room visits in which the insurer determines the patient should have sought treatment elsewhere, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The former president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island received a seven-figure payout in 2017, despite having left the institution the previous year, WWLP-22 News reports.
UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members can no longer access providers with the Aurora-based UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, according to The Denver Post.
