Payer

Consumers will see standardized health plans as an option when they go to shop on the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplace for 2017 coverage, reports The New York Times.

Two Kansas state agencies scheduled several August public meetings to discuss KanCare, the state's Medicaid program, but canceled the meetings a week prior, The Wichita Eagle reports.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department released 2017 Affordable Care Act rates for individual and small group plans, with individual premium rates rising an average 32.5 percent.

Colorado residents will vote on whether to establish a tax-funded, universal health system this November amid mounting challenges to the measure, The Gazette reports.

Two of the three insurers in North Carolina's Affordable Care Act marketplace will pull its plans from the exchange in 2017, reports The Washington Post.

Policyholders of Cigna health plans claimed the payer charged more than 10 times the actual price of some prescription medications, Bloomberg BNA reports.

Some small business executives in Michigan are looking to decrease administrative costs and premium prices for employees by asking state regulators for help, Crain's Detroit Business reports.

Today, many small employers that dropped group coverage for employees are reversing that decision — as The Wall Street Journal noted — and again shopping for small group health plans as individual plan premiums increase and provider networks narrow.

Spartanburg (S.C.) Regional Healthcare System and Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare have agreed to a two-year contract to keep all SRHS hospitals and physicians in UnitedHealthcare's network, effective Oct. 15.

As open enrollment season kicks off, here are six insurance industry trends for healthcare consumers and professionals to know, according to Denver Business Journal.