Payer

Premiums for the most popular health plans sold on the ACA exchanges are tracking an average 18 percent higher than last year, according to an Avalere analysis of 2018 rate requests filed by insurers across eight states.

Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare and University of Chicago Medicine reached an agreement Monday to keep the medical center and its physicians in the insurer's network, according to an emailed release.

As the growth in private high-deductible health plans inflates consumers' financial responsibility and induces some members to forgo care, only six states and the District of Columbia have imposed cost-sharing regulations for specific health services, according to a recent Urban…

CMS lifted sanctions on Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna restricting the payer from marketing and enrolling members in its Medicare Advantage prescription drug and Medicare Part D plans, according to a June 16 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Saint Francis Muskogee (Okla.) and Tulsa-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma are back in network after terminating their interim in-network agreement June 1, according to KJRH.

Several states have requested rate hikes for individual plans sold on the ACA exchanges for 2018.

State officials said they will monitor Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia's policy to no longer cover emergency department services it deems unnecessary for members with individual plans, according to WABE.

Healthcare industry trends such as growth in data analytics and high-deductible health plans are causing payer and provider relationships to evolve.

Wilmington-based Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware requested an average 33.6 percent rate hike for individual ACA exchange plans next year, according to Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times.

Detroit-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan wants to raise premiums for its individual ACA exchange plans 26.9 percent on average next year — a figure the payer says would increase to 31.7 percent if federal subsidies are discontinued.