Essentia Health to drop from Medicare Advantage networks at UnitedHealthcare, Humana – Star Tribune
Essentia Health is set to exit UnitedHealthcare and Humana's Medicare Advantage health insurance network next year, a move that will affect about 14,000 Minnesota seniors. The Duluth-based health system's announcement Tuesday marks the third large health system operating in Minnesota to end network relationships with Medicare Advantage health plans in recent months, all citing concerns […]
Blue Cross of Minnesota paying $83K penalty over denied claims for sleep treatment – Star Tribune
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota entered a consent order with the state Department of Commerce after it wrongly denied more than 8,000 claims for medical devices and supplies used to treat sleep disorders. The equipment and supplies in question were for a common sleep treatment called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The Eagan-based health […]
Minnesota seniors feel like pawns in HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare dispute – Star Tribune
For most people, the bottom line is uncertainty. Dennis Rodriguez poses for a portrait in front of his St. Paul home on Aug. 8. Rodriguez is one of about 30,000 seniors caught up in a contract dispute between UnitedHealthcare and HealthPartners. (Shari L. Gross / Star Tribune) Mary Boyd, a former St. Paul school administrator, […]
St. Paul school retirees caught up in HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare dispute – Star Tribune
About 2,300 St. Paul Public Schools retirees will be directly affected by HealthPartners’ decision next year to drop out of UnitedHealthCare’s network of Medicare Advantage plans for seniors. In a statement to the Star Tribune, the school district said it was working with its insurance company to “identify potential next steps” but did not elaborate […]
HealthPartners leaving UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network – Star Tribune
HealthPartners said it will drop out of UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plan network next year, accusing the nation’s largest health insurer of excessively high rates of denials and frequently delaying payments for services used by seniors. Bloomington-based HealthPartners, one of the Twin Cities’ largest hospital and clinic operators, sent letters this week to about 30,000 patients […]
Chicago pension debt climbs to $37.2 billion – Chicago Tribune
Chicago’s pension debt topped $37 billion last year, but city leaders on a special task force convened by Mayor Brandon Johnson more than a year ago to address the problem have focused on one area: how to ensure that benefits to certain pensioners are at least as good as Social Security. City debt rises to […]
Minnesota health insurers seek premium hikes for individuals up to 12.75% – Star Tribune
Minnesota health insurers are seeking big premium increases for 2025, including double-digit hikes for enrollees in the individual and small employer markets. The proposal, announced last month by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, is the latest sign of rising health care costs as the nation emerges from the COVID-19 public health emergency. Eagan-based Blue Cross […]
Cook Children's sues Texas over potential Medicaid contract loss – The Texas Tribune
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Illinois' landmark credit card fee law prompting strong opposition – Chicago Tribune
Illinois lawmakers last month, during the legislative spring recess, became the first state in the nation to ban banks and credit card companies from charging retailers seemingly small fees for sales taxes and tips. But since Gov. JB Pritzker signed the ban into law, financial institutions that opposed the measure have stepped up their opposition […]
UnitedHealth cyberattack compromised medical histories, SSNs – Star Tribune
Hackers stole Social Security numbers, credit card information and medical histories in a February cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, the company said Thursday. The Minnetonka-based health care giant revealed more details about the type of consumer data that was compromised and a timeline for contacting those affected in filings with the U.S. Department of […]