Non-life Insurance – Page 2

Climate Change Is Breaking Insurance. Here’s How Tech Could Save It.

9Dec

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World

Climate Change Is Breaking Insurance. Here’s How Tech Could Save It.

If floodwaters outside a warehouse in Freeport, Texas, owned by private investment firm Postlane Partners rise to 8 inches, an internet-connected sensor will trigger an automatic $3 million payment from an insurance company, a startup called FloodFlash. If the waters rise to 16 inches, the payment will also rise—to $5 million. This type of policy, called parametric insurance, works like a bet. It has a defined payout, which limits the liability of the insurer. And it comes from a new breed of insurance company, stepping in to shoulder risks that traditional insurers can’t—or won’t—take on, because climate change has made more typical kinds of coverage unprofitable.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

6Dec

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Money

The Medicare Gold Rush Is Slowing Down

The popularity of private Medicare plans has been a huge driver of profits for insurance companies in recent years. There are signs the gold rush isn’t quite what it once was.Investors have been worried all year as the Biden administration phases in a new system that insurers say will reduce federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Developments last week at the top two insurers in the Medicare business, UnitedHealth Group and Humana, raised more questions. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Cigna, Humana in Talks for Blockbuster Insurance Merger in Stock-and-Cash Deal

30Nov

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World

Cigna, Humana in Talks for Blockbuster Insurance Merger in Stock-and-Cash Deal

Updated Nov. 29, 2023 4:28 pm ETCigna and Humana are in talks for a combination that would create a new powerhouse in the health-insurance industry. The companies are discussing a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year, assuming the talks don’t fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

30Nov

By adminNo Comments

Health

Biden, Trump and ObamaCare – WSJ

Donald Trump handed his opponents another gift over the weekend by vowing to “terminate” ObamaCare—or at least that’s how Democrats are translating his blunderbuss comments. Democrats are distorting the issue as ever, but they know Mr. Trump has no plan of his own.“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare,” Mr. Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. “I’m seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Cigna, Humana in Talks for Blockbuster Merger

29Nov

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Money

Cigna, Humana in Talks for Blockbuster Merger

Updated Nov. 29, 2023 12:24 pm ETCigna and Humana are in talks for a combination that would create a new powerhouse in the health-insurance industry. The companies are discussing a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year, assuming the talks don’t fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Surprise Medical Billing Law Heaps Pressure on Healthcare Providers

28Nov

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World

Surprise Medical Billing Law Heaps Pressure on Healthcare Providers

Nov. 28, 2023 6:30 am ET|WSJ ProA law designed to protect patients from surprise medical bills is contributing to the financial distress of some medical-service providers, which say lengthy billing disputes and payment delays with insurers are hurting their ability to stay afloat. The No Surprises Act, which took effect last year, aims to protect patients from surprise medical bills from out-of-network healthcare providers when there are disagreements over reimbursements between insurers and providers. Previously, providers often billed patients to make up for the amounts insurers were unwilling to pay. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Elizabeth Warren Has an ObamaCare Epiphany

25Nov

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Business

Elizabeth Warren Has an ObamaCare Epiphany

It took 13 years, but Elizabeth Warren is at long last acknowledging that ObamaCare has increased healthcare prices and industry consolidation. Who would have believed it? Government price controls and profit caps have resulted in unintended consequences.The Massachusetts Senator and Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana this week wrote a letter to the Health and Human Services Department inspector general complaining that the nation’s largest health insurers are dodging ObamaCare’s medical loss ratio (MLR). The result, they say, is higher costs for patients.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Senators Call for Investigation of Health Insurers’ Role in Driving Up Drug Costs

24Nov

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World

Senators Call for Investigation of Health Insurers’ Role in Driving Up Drug Costs

A pair of U.S. senators called on the federal government to investigate health insurers that are paying high prices for generic drugs for serious diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Sen. Mike Braun (R., Ind.) sent a letter on Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General requesting an investigation into the high drug prices and any role played by health insurers’ shared ownership with the pharmacies that often fill the prescriptions.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

23Nov

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World

Nikki Haley’s Medicare Advantage – WSJ

Few politicians are willing to touch entitlements these days, but Nikki Haley dared to do so in the recent debate on Medicare. A new study shows her pitch to expand the Medicare Advantage program could lower costs and improve care. Medicare Advantage plans are growing rapidly and cover about half of the entitlement’s beneficiaries. Private insurers administer the plans and are paid by Medicare per beneficiary. Insurers compete for patients by offering benefits, including vision and dental care that aren’t available in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

14Nov

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Health

Biden’s Race Against a Cure

Updated Nov. 13, 2023 7:27 pm ETThe Food and Drug Administration may soon approve two gene therapies with the potential to cure more than 100,000 Americans with debilitating sickle-cell disease. Now the bad news: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may soon limit access to such breakthrough treatments.Gene therapies fix missing or defective genes. The one-time treatments have the potential to cure inherited disorders with early death sentences. The FDA has approved nine gene therapies for such diseases as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and retinal dystrophy. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8