Payer

The following payers made headlines this week, beginning with the most recent.

UnitedHealthcare in Phoenix, part of the insurance branch of UnitedHealth Group, will lay off 381 employees, a company spokesperson told ABC 15.

Cigna reported a 24 percent increase in net income during the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, following a string of national insurers posting strong third quarter results.

While many analysts predicted CVS Health is in talks to buy Aetna to stay ahead of Amazon, industry experts are now attributing the proposed merger to another competitor — UnitedHealth Group, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A district judge tossed a lawsuit filed by Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut Wednesday, according to a Hartford Courant report.

John Snyder stepped into the chief administrative officer role at Health Alliance, a for-profit health insurance company under Urbana, Ill.-based Carle Foundation, according to a Journal Gazette & Times-Courier report.

Four rural Oklahoma hospitals sued Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma for allegedly breaching contract amid an ongoing rate dispute, The Oklahoman reports.

S&P Global Ratings predicts enrollment on the 2018 ACA exchanges will be between 7 percent and 13 percent lower than last year.

Shares of WellCare, a Florida-based Medicaid and Medicare managed care plan, hit a record high Tuesday as the payer more than doubled its net income in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, Reuters reports.  

Becker's Hospital Review reported these 17 contract resolutions and dissolutions between payers and providers in October, beginning with the most recent.