Core and Group Health

Overall health spending growth is well below this year's premium increases, according to a new study released Thursday.

Health insurers Humana Inc. and HealthSpring Inc. have promising growth prospects, partly because of their Medicare Advantage businesses, according to an Oppenheimer analyst who upgraded shares of both companies to "Outperform" from "Perform."

In light of the new legislation, much of it being made up as time goes along each day, it behooves all stakeholders to step back before the end of this calendar year to analyze what may work best for the potential outcomes and what is already in place.

Like the villain in a bad slasher flick, Congress will be back to take another stab at Medicare cuts.

Some Florida health insurers may be sending in letters of intent this Friday to join Florida Health Choices, a web-based marketplace that may have to stand in as the state health care exchange, as Florida has sent the Feds packing as far as implementing an exchange under the PPACA. ...

Including Social Security benefits when deciding whether families qualify for health insurance purchase subsidies could save the government about $13 billion from 2014 through 2021, budget analysts say.