Core and Group Health

Negotiations between the state and unions representing government workers are heating up over the state's demand that employees chip in part of their health care premiums.

A recent study by Unum and Monster.com showed that benefits and a company that values employees outranks salary for most job seekers.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has backed away from the idea of supporting a congressional bill that could exclude insurance agent compensation from medical loss ratio (MLR) calculations.

With compromise talks at a vituperative standstill, Senate Republicans unexpectedly offered Tuesday to hand President Barack Obama new powers to avert the first-ever government default threatened for Aug. 2.

Cigna announced Tuesday it will add at least 200 jobs in the next two years at its Bloomfield site in exchange for a $50 million package of tax credits and will change its headquarters from Philadelphia to the Connecticut location.

The federal government's systems for analyzing Medicare and Medicaid data for possible fraud are inadequate and underused, making it more difficult to detect the billions of dollars in fraudulent claims paid out each year, according to a report released Tuesday.

So now the states have a little more breathing room.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he would consider cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security if they were part of a "grand bargain' that includes tax increases.