More than 1,600 CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield members on the individual market heeded the insurer’s call to switch plans for 2019, potentially tapping into hundreds of dollars a month in savings. While preparing its rates for 2019, CareFirst realized that thousands ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield individual market Kaiser Permanente

Frustration over the rising cost of prescription drugs may be reaching a tipping point for Maryland stakeholders. Last week, Baltimore, which runs a self-funded health plan for its employees, filed a federal lawsuit alleging a pharmaceutical company had engaged in ...

Tagged with: Actelion CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield prescription drug prices

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield may make a play to enter the Medicare Advantage and managed Medicaid markets, Brian Pieninck, the insurer’s president and CEO, said. Pieninck took over as CareFirst’s president and CEO over the summer. CareFirst has not been in ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield medicaid Medicare Advantage

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has awarded a combined $2.1 million to 11 community health organizations fighting substance use disorders, including the opioid epidemic, leaders announced at Baltimore City Hall Wednesday. The grants, totaling between $100,000 and $382,000 each, follow a request ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield opioid crisis

A busy week is in store for health policy in Maryland as regulators, advocates, consumers and insurers consider the present and future of the state’s individual market. Monday, the Maryland Insurance Administration will hear from insurers and the public as ...

Tagged with: beth sammis CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield individual mandate individual market Kaiser Permanente maryland insurance administration Vincent DeMarco

Maryland’s bid to lower health care premiums on the individual market through a reinsurance program could be paying off as Kaiser Permanente has refiled its rate request for 2019.

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Kaiser Permanente reinsurance

The board of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange voted Friday on a solution to an issue where the state’s new reinsurance program could cause duplicative payments under the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program. Kaiser Permanente, one of the state’s ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Evergreen Health Kaiser Permanente maryland health benefit exchange maryland insurance administration

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland’s governor and legislative leaders Wednesday celebrated the federal government’s approval of a reinsurance program, praising the bipartisan manner in which they acted and making good-humored jokes about their age. But they also described the reinsurance proposal as ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health care insurance Kaiser Permanente reinsurance

Maryland’s hospital rate-setting board will consider the unprecedented step of asking the state’s private insurers to pay more to account for uncompensated care at the state’s hospitals, a reflection of more unpaid bills from patients facing growing out-of-pocket costs through their private insurance company.

Tagged with: all-payer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Health Services Cost Review Commission Maryland Hospital Association medicaid medicare

Maryland’s insurance regulator Monday heard health insurance companies’ cases for raising premiums on the individual market by an average of 30 percent, but those requests could fall if a reinsurance program is approved. Rate increases considered Monday would continue a ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Kaiser Permanente maryland insurance administration