Payer

Four Oregon health insurers, including UnitedHealthcare and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, face penalties for allegedly not complying with state parity law requiring equal coverage for mental healthcare.

Despite increased revenue, Wellesley, Mass.-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care saw increasing medical use, pharmacy costs and ACA-established programs affect its 2016 financials.

Prime Healthcare Services' decision to backpedal on plans to terminate its contract with Anthem struck a chord with Becker's Hospital Review payer issues readers this week.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and other Blue plans in Massachusetts, Michigan and North Carolina reported mixed financial results for fiscal year 2016.

Premier Health Plan, the insurance business of Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health, appointed Renee George president, according to Dayton Daily News.

Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina Healthcare amended its recent earnings report to show a greater net income than previously reported, decreasing its fourth quarter loss by $44 million.

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

Louisville, Ky.-based Humana will lay off an undisclosed number of employees in Kentucky and Wisconsin as part of the insurer's growth strategy following its unsuccessful bid to merge with Aetna, according to a Humana spokesperson. 

Indianapolis-based insurer MDwise will exit Indiana's Medicaid program at the end of this month, laying off 79 workers in the process, according to an IndyStar report.

As Anthem surges forward with efforts to salvage its proposed $54 billion merger with Cigna, several obstacles may hinder the Indianapolis-based insurer from successfully completing the merger.