Tag : health-care-providers

Today, Aetna announced that it would buy Coventry Health Care for $5.7billion, about $42.08 a share.

Aetna’s CEO Mark T. Bertolini said, “Integrating Coventry into Aetna will complement our strategy to expand our core insurance business, increase our presence in the fast-growing government sector and expand our relationships with providers in local geographies.”

The move is expected to align core competencies, mainly for the health insurance provider to expand government-backed healthcare programs Medicaid and Medicare.

A growing trend?

Health reform has brought a slew of changes for all health insurance providers. Most notably, with the increase in ...

What effect does the Supreme Court have on the health care market?

With the highly anticipated ruling - soon to be out this month - all that is certain is that stocks and bonds will rise and fall relative to the businesses that have a stake in health care.

To put into perspective, Americans spend approximately $2.7 trillion a year on health care, which accounts for %18 of the US GDP and 12% of the Standard & Poor’s 500.

The high court decision is expected to be revealed the week of June 24th, the end of the Supreme Courts current session ...

Ever wonder how much market share your healthcare provider actually has in your state?

Check out this great InfoGraphic that represents the market shares of various healthcare providers in each state.

Here’s the description of the graphic:

“Opponents of the public option claim that by being forced to compete against the government, health care companies will be at an unfair advantage. But right now, health care companies hardly have to compete at all. In most states, one health care provider controls the vast share of the market, which allows them to raise premiums far faster than the wages of ...

What are the numbers that backup the statement “healthcare costs are increasing?”

Here is a forecast of the healthcare costs as outlined in the data from National Health Expenditures:

Be sure to checkout the information in the tables that compares current data to expected projections, both with the effects of healthcare reform and projected costs without it.

2012:

Health spending is projected to grow faster due to expected improvements in the economy, reaching a rate of 5.5 percent by 2013. Private health insurance and out-of-pocket spending are both projected to grow faster over this period.

2013:

Private health insurance ...

Many predictions have been made for this New Year, and aside from your New Year’s resolution and the presidential election, what are some predictions in terms of medical costs you can expect to see this year?

According to PwC’s Health Research Institute, which released “Medical Cost Trends for 2012,” here are the trends that will inflate healthcare costs this year:

Diminishing effects of the recession

The recession that spanned from 2007-2009 had many negative effects on the economy. One of the indirect effects was a decrease in utilization of healthcare, where patients would typically forego minor treatments in ...

Your health insurance plan can offer a low premium, high deductible, prescription drug coverage and access to your favorite healthcare provider – but in an effort to reduce healthcare costs what would happen if they started offering gym memberships?

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researcher Alicia Cooper and Amal Trevedi took a look at a private health insurance plans that offered gym memberships as part of the benefits package. In brief, they compared the enrollees of the plan to other members with different health insurance plans.

The group who had the health insurance plan that ...

Think that the Affordable Care Act was the harbinger of change to the health care system? Think again – because changes were already occurring when talks were in place for the law, trends you need to know in order to understand future health care costs.

Let’s look at the trending changes and why:

Physicians:

It is rare today to see a Physician who will provide the entirety of the care because aside from primary care, with anything more intensive and you’ll hear “let me refer you to a specialist.”

So today we see an increased movement to Single-Specialty Groups ...

If the reports are true, you soon will be able to get health services from your local Wal-Mart.

That’s right, according to a report from National Public Radio a 14-page document sent to various healthcare vendors outlines how Wal-Mart "intends to build a national, integrated, low-cost primary care healthcare platform."

“Great Value” for your healthcare costs?

The retail giant based in Arkansas is looking to partner with outside healthcare companies in order to treat a range of serious medical conditions. Some key services that are outlined and could be available in the 140 store clinics:

• HIV management
• Obesity Monitoring ...

Bigger is better right? Usually the health insurance with the most members, most options, and in most states = guaranteed highest customer satisfaction? Wrong.

According to new rankings of customer satisfaction released by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), findings from ConsumerReports.org state:

The five largest national insurers—Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and United Healthcare, plus the mostly state-based Blue Cross Blue Shield plans—account for about 75 percent of the 390 ranked private plans, but only 36 percent of the top 50.

The NCQA is a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C, which provided the data in ...