Insurers look at virtual visits to doctor

Some doctors, medical information companies, and health insurers are betting that patients are willing to pay for the convenience of describing their symptoms from work or home. Insurers Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. have announced that they will pay for doctors' visits on the Web, for example. Aetna expanded a pilot program in California, Florida and Washington to the rest of the country on Jan 1, 2008. Cigna will start paying for the "virtual visits" in January 2009.