Payer

Chicago-based Blue Cross Blue Shield Association penned a message to members outlining its wishes for the GOP's health reform proposal.

Albuquerque-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico saw a 62 percent decrease in emergency department visits for Medicaid beneficiaries under a house-call initiative established in January 2016, according to Albuquerque Journal.

Atlanta-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia filed preliminary plans to offer ACA individual health plans in all of Georgia's 159 counties for 2018, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

San Francisco-based Blue Cross of California has the largest market share of insurers participating in California's ACA health insurance marketplace, Covered California, according to a California Healthline report.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna, said acquisitions are "not high on our list" as possible growth strategies for the payer's business lines, Reuters reports.

Fitch Ratings affirmed the "BBB" ratings of Indianapolis-based Anthem's senior notes and the "A+" insurer financial strength ratings to its subsidiaries.

Phoenix-based Banner Health and Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna selected Thomas Grote to helm a jointly-owned health plan the organizations unveiled last October.

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

Durham-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will let go 165 customer service employees who were hired during the 2017 open enrollment period for ACA health plans, CBS North Carolina reports.

The U.S. uninsured rate was 9 percent in 2016, an insignificant difference from the 9.1 percent recorded in 2015, according to the CDC.