Aetna, Cigna and Humana now say they will waive most treatment costs associated with COVID-19 that would normally be picked up by patients enrolled in their health plans. Will other firms follow suit?
Health insurer Aetna has reached a settlement with people whose privacy was compromised when their HIV status was visible through the clear address windows on envelopes sent to them.
By combining a health insurer with a drugstore chain, CVS is looking to provide more care from its network of stores. The deal would also give the merged companies more clout with drugmakers.
"Aetna's privacy violation devastated people whose neighbors and family learned their intimate health information," a legal group representing customers says. Aetna calls its mistake "unacceptable."
The two healthcare giants said they were no longer pursuing the deal. A federal judge blocked the merger in January, citing its likely adverse effect on competition in the health insurance market.
In his decision, Judge John Bates said he believed health insurance giant Aetna had tried to leverage its original support for Obamacare to get federal approval for its acquisition of rival Humana.
A July letter from Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini to the Justice Department said the company would pull back from health insurance exchanges if the government opposed the company's merger with Humana.
The exit of insurers from exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act represents a fresh challenge to the viability of the president's signature health care law.
Evidence shows dominant insurers hold down hospital prices. Big insurers seeking to get bigger want to take that idea to the extreme. Hospitals and doctors object.
The insurer is rolling out a specialized gold-level plan geared to people with diabetes. Aetna says it's aiming to keep down the cost for diabetes care. But it's unclear if the plans are a good buy.
Aetna, the giant health insurance company, raised its minimum wage this month. CEO Mark Bertolini says he expects the raise will pay for itself through increased productivity.
Aetna beneficiaries can reconsider their Part D choices after the insurer incorrectly identified some pharmacies as being in-network, dropped others and removed some from the preferred network.
