Payer

The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance approved a 15.9 percent increase on individual Affordable Care Act health plans for 2017, although some areas may see increases as high as 30.4 percent on average.

Fourteen health plans will be offered through New York's individual marketplace next year.

Pittsburgh-based Gateway Health Plan will end two Medicare plans for chronically ill seniors next year, affecting about 5,000 members, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. 

Health insurer Aetna entered a value-based agreement with pharmaceutical company Merck and collaborated on a predictive analytics model to identify potential service populations.

CMS lashed back at The New York Times for its headline on an article about a new federal policy, reports Advisory Board: "Can't Find a Plan on HealthCare.gov? One May Be Picked For You."

Health insurer UnitedHealthcare is requesting confidential information granted to the U.S. Department of Justice as evidence in Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna lawsuits be kept from rival hands, Hartford Courant reports.

The U.S. Department of Justice dismissed accusations from Aetna and Humana that the DOJ belated releasing trial-related documents, arguing the payers' allegations are an attempt to thwart the trial before it begins, The National Law Journal reports.

San Francisco-based Blue Shield of California affiliate Care1st Health Plan will divest its Arizona subsidiaries to Tampa, Fla.-based WellCare Health Plans for $157.5 million.

Business-to-business trust levels in the healthcare industry rank among the lowest of all industries in the U.S. This may explain why the transition to value-based care delivery is crawling at a snail's pace.

Health plans participating in the Affordable Care Act individual market saw an increase in average risk scores from 2014 to 2015, which indicates an increase in the health plans' predicted expenses.