Monday, September 13, 2021: Payers

CMS announced $20 million in American Rescue Plan grant funding to 21 State-based Marketplaces (SBMs). The grants are intended to increase consumer access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance coverage, modernize IT systems, and/or conduct targeted consumer...

Friday, September 10, 2021: Payers

Cigna and Oscar Health announced they are expanding their cobranded health plans in Illinois. The plans will be available for small businesses with under 50 employees in Chicago, as well as DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties. The Cigna+Oscar plans are built on...

Wednesday, September 8, 2021: Payers

The CMS announced it will distribute $452 million to support 13 states’ reinsurance programs. The new funds, which Congress approved in the American Rescue Plan, range from $2.5 million to $139 million per state based on the size of the state’s program. In...

Friday, September 3, 2021: Payers

Centene announced it is consolidating all of its Medicare Advantage (MA) brands under the Wellcare name. Centene’s acquisition of Wellcare Health Plans in January 2020 created one of the country’s largest sponsors of government insurance and led to numerous disparate...

Thursday, September 2, 2021: Payers

A new report from the HHS Office of the Inspector General found that Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized with COVID-19 experienced a number of comorbidities. According to the report, nearly all beneficiaries studied, about 55,000 across six cities, were...

Wednesday, September 1, 2021: Payers

New projections in the annual Social Security and Medicare trustees reports indicate Medicare’s insurance trust fund is expected to run out of money in 2026, unchanged from last year’s projection. The report found the COVID-19 pandemic significantly...