Shelby Livingston is an insurance reporter. Before joining Modern Healthcare in 2016, she covered employee benefits at Business Insurance magazine. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a bachelor’s in English from Clemson University.
UnitedHealthcare and physician staffing company Envision Healthcare have renewed their contract for 2019, resolving a dispute over Envision's ED billing practices that threatened to leave patients on the hook for surprise out-of-network medical bills.
Nine groups representing health insurers, employers and consumers called for federal legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills from out-of-network providers.
Enrollment in New Jersey's insurance exchange during open enrollment this year trails last year's sign-ups by 14%. That's despite state efforts to enact an individual mandate, implement a reinsurance program and prohibit short-term insurance plans.
The CMS issued a final rule that allows the agency to continue the normal operations of the Affordable Care Act risk-adjustment program for 2018.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. sold its small Medicare Advantage plan serving California seniors—marking the Dallas-based hospital system's exit from the health insurance business, first announced in 2016.
The trend toward narrow-network plans has persisted since the inception of the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2014. While it seems to have leveled out for 2019, it's unlikely that narrow networks will become less popular anytime soon.
