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☆ ChenMed just tapped a UnitedHealthcare veteran to take over as the clinic company confronts financial pressures
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The family behind primary-care company ChenMed is stepping back from their leadership roles. He will bring on an almost entirely new leadership team, effective August 1. "The Chen family remains owners of the ChenMed company, and we will no longer be directing company operations," Chris Chen told staff. As a private company, ChenMed does not disclose its financials. During the meeting Thursday, Chris Chen told staff that the family and leadership team have "decided to keep the ChenMed brands together."

Persons: Steve Nelson, ChenMed, Chen, Nelson, Chris Chen, Steve Nelson ChenMed, Steve, Chris Chen's, Dr, Gordon Chen, James Chen, Mary Chen, Stephanie Chen, Jessica Chen, Shelby Livingston Organizations: Humana Locations: slivingston, insider.com

☆ UnitedHealth stock jumps after earnings top estimates despite rising medical costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

UnitedHealth Group' s stock price jumped Friday after the health-care conglomerate reported second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that topped Wall Street's expectations despite rising medical costs. UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health-care company in the U.S. by market cap and revenue, and is even bigger than the nation's largest banks. Given its size, UnitedHealth Group is considered a bellwether for the broader health insurance sector. UnitedHealth Care said that was driven by the previously noted uptick in elective surgeries and outpatient care activity, primarily among seniors. But UnitedHealth Group executives indicated that the trend may be reversing.

Persons: UnitedHealth, –, John Rex, Rex, Goldman Sachs Organizations: UnitedHealth, Refinitiv, Healthcare, Analysts, Goldman, Rex . Insurance Locations: Minnesota, U.S

☆ Clover Health, which bet its technology would disrupt health insurance, will outsource health-plan operations and cut jobs to help it turn a profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Clover Health bet its technology would disrupt health insurance, but it's struggled with losses. Now it's cutting jobs and it plans to outsource some health-plan operations to lower its costs. Clover Health, an insurance upstart that bet its technology could transform healthcare for seniors, now plans to outsource basic functions like paying medical claims. The Tennessee-based health insurer said Monday that it will shift the responsibility of its core operations to UST HealthProof, a company that handles administrative operations for health plans. It's not unusual for small health insurers to outsource some health-plan operations.

☆ People Can't Get Ozempic, New Weight-Loss Drugs Because of Broken Healthcare System
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Wegovy is just one of a wave of revolutionary weight-loss drugs, which also includes the buzzy Ozempic, that represents a watershed moment for obesity treatment. Demand for weight-loss drugs is surgingDoctors and healthcare professionals searched for a healthy, safe, and effective weight-loss solution for years before the drugs, known collectively as GLP-1 agonists, exploded on the scene. If there is one key that could unlock access to expensive weight-loss drugs for Americans, it's Medicare. Expanding coverage for Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs for just a small segment of the population could cost Medicare up to $26.8 billion a year. Patients lose outYears from now, patients may have an easier time getting their hands on weight-loss drugs.

☆ Devoted Health quietly blew past other insurance upstarts in the red-hot market for seniors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While last year was a bloodbath for some young health insurers, Devoted Health ended 2022 relatively unscathed. Several newly public health insurers have struggled with losses, and some have been forced to retrench to stay afloat. Devoted has won more Medicare Advantage members in 2023 than competitorsExecutives of Devoted Health's rivals. Clover Health; Bright Health; Oscar Health; Olivia Reaney/Business InsiderInsider's analysis of the latest federal enrollment data found that Devoted had 126,287 Medicare Advantage members as of March 1. Bright had 122,371 Medicare Advantage members at the two California health plans it owns, while Alignment Healthcare had about 109,221 Advantage members, according to Insider's analysis.

☆ Dreaded Medical Paperwork Required by Health Insurers to Be Trimmed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | Stephanie Armour | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

UnitedHealthcare said it would cut its use of the prior authorization process. The paperwork required by health insurers to get many medical procedures or tests—one of the biggest gripes of doctors and patients—is getting rolled back. UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurer in the U.S., said it would cut its use of the prior authorization process. Starting in the third quarter, it will remove many procedures and medical devices from its list requiring the signoff.

☆ States and healthcare organizations join forces to help people prepare for Medicaid redeterminations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Unitedhealthcare | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

As many as 18 million Americans may lose Medicaid coverage this year. Over the past three years, Medicaid recipients remained eligible thanks to a Congressional bill that provided funds to maintain continuous Medicaid coverage. But this April marks the end of this pandemic-era policy that helped people maintain their Medicaid coverage. That means the continuous enrollment provision will expire and states will return to their pre-pandemic policies of requiring people to renew their Medicaid coverage annually. Any individuals or families who lose Medicaid coverage through this redetermination process will need assistance securing replacement health insurance coverage.

☆ A top-5% fund manager shares 4 reasons why he's getting optimistic about the economy after hiding nearly half of his assets in cash last summer — and details 6 of his favorite stocks to buy now
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Leading fund manager Jeff Muhlenkamp put about half of his fund into cash last summer. Last summer, Jeff Muhlenkamp was so concerned about the US economy that he put nearly half of his fund's assets into cash. But in recent months, Muhlenkamp has moved more money into select stocks — even though he acknowledges that there are still lingering risks for stocks and the economy. "You're seeing buyers come back into the market," Muhlenkamp said. Lastly, Microsoft is like Apple in that it's a mature mega-cap company with profitable businesses that produce tons of cash, Muhlenkamp said.

☆ The arms race for doctors is on. CVS is hoping a $10.6 billion deal will help it compete with Amazon and UnitedHealthcare.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CVS Health just said it wants to buy primary-care company Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion. CVS Health is finally entering the arms race among health insurers and big retailers to employ doctors. Oak Street gets most of its revenue from relationships with CVS-owned Aetna rivals Humana, Centene, and UnitedHealthcare. And though Aetna is a big Medicare Advantage player, it also has millions of members who get insurance through their employers. Mike Pykosz, Oak Street Health CEO Oak Street HealthGuertin also noted that the improved health outcomes and better experience provided in Oak Street clinics would help Aetna hold onto its Medicare Advantage patients.

☆ See the 12-slide presentation that a health-insurance startup used to land $58 million after its public competitors tumbled
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Angle Health wants to use tech to transform health insurance where other upstarts have failed. Angle Health raised $58 million to disrupt employer-sponsored health benefits using this pitch deck. Companies like Oscar Health, Clover Health, and Bright Health raked in investor cash on the promise that they could transform health plans with tech, and each went public in 2021 at a lofty valuation. Angle Health provided Insider with the pitch deck it used to raise $58 million in Series A funding from Portage and other investors. Here's the pitch deck Angle Health used to land a $58 million Series A.

☆ The era of health insurance disruptors is over
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Today, they're mostly the poster children of just how challenging it is to break into the insurance industry. Clover Health; Bright Health; Oscar Health; Olivia Reaney/Business InsiderOscar, founded in 2012, and Bright, in 2015, set out to sell health plans to people buying coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem health plans, is No. Health insurance remains overly complex and mind-numbingly frustrating. Established health insurers haven't been able to stem the rise in health costs, which are mostly determined by the prices for medical care.

☆ Health insurer Elevance's strategy is coming into focus as it goes head-to-head with giants UnitedHealth and CVS
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elevance Health, the major US health insurer formerly called Anthem, said Monday that it plans to acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in a rare merger between two Blue-affiliated health insurers. It's possible that if the merger goes through, the Louisiana Blue could flip to using Elevance's PBM. While competitors like UnitedHealth, CVS, and Humana are pushing deeper into delivering primary care, Elevance has focused on owning businesses that serve people with serious and chronic illnesses. Carelon's strategy has been to sell its services to both Elevance's own health plans and other Blue-affiliated insurers. Carelon brought in almost $41 billion in revenue in 2022, and 60% of that came from Elevance's own health plans, Boudreaux said Wednesday.

The problem was the Neris had switched to a new, high-deductible health insurance plan to save money. The 2010 Affordable Care Act expanded access to health insurance, so companies were faced with covering more people than ever before. But the epinephrine auto-injectors — which deliver a shot of epinephrine and are the only emergency medicine available for life-threatening allergic reactions — usually are not. But AHIP (formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans), a group that represents such companies, said drug manufacturers are to blame. Fight it with your health care provider, fight it with your insurance company.”“No almost never means no in health insurance,” he said.

☆ A portfolio manager beating 95% of his peers says 'there's more bad news coming' for markets — and shares 10 stocks to invest in for recession protection and long-term gains
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He shared 10 stocks to invest in for long-term gains and protection against a recession. If his macroeconomic predictions come true, the equity market will continue allowing him to play to his strengths in the near future. He also attributed his fund's success to the performance of the auto manufacturer Tenneco, the pharmaceutical distributor McKesson, and three energy stocks — EQT, Occidental Petroleum, and Schlumberger. To hedge against a recession, Muhlenkamp is also bullish on healthcare stocks. "Broadcom, in my opinion, is doing in tech what Warren Buffett does in industrials and energy — accumulating cash cows," he said.

☆ Here's what health insurance providers are doing to lower the cost of prescription drugs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Unitedhealthcare | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Americans pay up to three times more for prescription drugs than people in other countries. In the US, people pay up to three times more for prescription drugs than people in other countries, and one in four Americans who take prescription drugs have trouble affording their medications. Because of the high cost of the drug, many diabetes patients cannot afford to pay for the treatment they need. Fast Facts: In the US, people pay 3X more for prescription drugs than people in other countries. The company is eliminating out-of-pocket costs for insulin and four other commonly used prescription drugs: epinephrine, glucagon, naloxone, and albuterol.

☆ Inside the stunning unraveling of Bright Health, a health-insurance upstart that rocketed to an $11.2 billion valuation and then cratered as it grew too fast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Bright Health Group grew fast. "We're just starting to realize the full potential of our differentiated model, and we're excited about the future of Bright Health Group," Bright CEO G. Mike Mikan told analysts at that investor event. Bright Health is one of a handful of upstarts trying to take on the health-insurance industry. Clover Health; Bright Health; Oscar Health; Olivia Reaney/Business InsiderBreaking into the health-insurance industry is tough. Bright moves to cut expensesAs losses mounted in 2021, Bright scrambled to raise capital.

☆ A billing expert investigated her husband's ER bill. She was able to knock thousands off the charge.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Bram Sable-Smith | Kaiser Health News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

She took one look at the hospital charges and decided to investigate further. “Even in our case, we waited until the second bill,” Kalsariya said. Depending on the medical procedure, Kalsariya said, a bill could contain an overwhelming number of line items that are hard to understand. Dr. Bhavin Shah was left with a $3,319 medical bill after he landed in an emergency room following a skiing accident in Wisconsin. But when a KHN reporter responded to the family’s request for help investigating Shah’s hospital bill, the couple decided to send in the form to accurately document their saga.

☆ A top 1% fund manager believes the market will plummet another 20% to 25% — and shares the 5 stocks he's investing in to outperform inflation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Jeff Muhlenkamp of the Muhlenkamp Fund believes stocks could fall another 20% to 25%. Muhlenkamp shared two sectors and five stocks he's investing in to beat macroeconomic headwinds. The portfolio manager's eponymous Muhlenkamp Fund (MUHLX) has beaten 99% of its peers year-to-date. Even though the S&P 500 has already cratered over 25% year-to-date, another 20% to 25% decline wouldn't surprise Muhlenkamp. Energy currently looks ridiculously cheap, with energy companies generating a lot of free cash flow, Muhlenkamp said.

☆ A new Apple update is set to launch Monday and it's bringing Fitness+ to iPhone users
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Starting Monday, iPhone users can update their phone for access to Apple's workout subscription service Fitness+. The most notable feature of the company's newest update is access to Apple's Fitness+, which was previously only available to Apple Watch owners. Apple has partnered with Target, UnitedHealthcare, Mobile Health, and SilverSneakers to offer exclusive perks to Fitness+ users. The tech giant is also introducing a "Clean Energy Charging" feature that users can turn on and off in their settings, CNBC reports. Apple's September iOS 16 update introduced a new look for iPhone users' lock screens and home screens along with the ability to unsend messages and schedule emails to be sent.

☆ UnitedHealth Boosts Earnings Forecast on Rising Revenue
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

UnitedHealth Group Inc. again raised its profit outlook for the year after posting a 12% increase in third-quarter revenue on a growing number of members in its health-insurance network. The healthcare and insurance giant on Friday said quarterly revenue came in at $80.9 billion, with growth of 11% from its UnitedHealthcare business, which served an additional 850,000 people in the third quarter compared with last year, and 17% at Optum Health, its health-service arm.

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