UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation's largest health insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs. Chairman Stephen Hemsley will become CEO, effective immediately, the Minnesota company said.
Mark Bertolini, formerly the CEO of Aetna (CVS), says narrow networks and lower cost options in the ACA marketplace are better for individuals, but that Aetna's exit isn't good for the market. Still, Aetna's exit bodes well for Oscar, which had 'significant overlap' with them, Bertolini says.
Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law a bill to allow the Alabama Farmers Federation to offer a health care plan for its members that will not be subject to the same laws and regulations as health insurance programs. The legislation had strong bipartisan support, passing the House 98-1 and the Senate 30-2. Supporters say the plan would provide an affordable alternative for farmers and self-employed people who are ALFA members and who struggle to pay for health insurance.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont has lost over $150 million in the past four years. If it fails, the state's entire healthcare apparatus could fall apart, officials say.
Investors say United HealthCare, the third largest public healthcare company in the world by market value, shifted away from its much maligned practice of denying treatment and claims, without publicly disclosing the impact on company profits.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Sunday blasted Republican efforts to reduce Medicaid funding, saying potential cuts would "destroy health care as we know it." "This is very simply an effort to destroy health care as we know it, to rip it away from everyday Americans, make it more costly for everybody else," Lujan Grisham said in an interview on CBS News's "Face the Nation." The Democratic governor warned that potential cuts would have far-reaching consequences across the country.