Compensation Issues

UnitedHealthcare subsidiary Harken Health is pulling out of 2017 Affordable Care Act exchanges in Illinois and Georgia, Chicago Tribune reports.

For 2017, Dallas, Texas-based health insurer CHRISTUS Health Plan will offer individual and family coverage through Texas's Affordable Care Act exchange for Tyler, Texas-based CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System.

Orange, Calif.-based payer CaliforniaChoice will offer two Western Health Advantage plans for northern California small businesses effective Dec. 1.

Payer UnitedHealthcare teamed up with the University of California for a 10-year strategic relationship to transition California into a value-based healthcare system.

The share of health plan premiums government employees and retirees pay will increase an average of 6.2 percent next year, The Washington Post reports. 

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and Catholic Health System in Buffalo, N.Y., have partnered to offer individuals and small employers a tiered network plan, reports The Buffalo News.

The following insurers made headlines this week. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.

A new survey from Aon Hewitt reveals compensation budgets are expected to remain flat in 2017 despite strong competition in the job market.

Registered nurses in California earn the highest average annual salary of RNs in the U.S. at $101,260, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hawaii is a close second at $90,130 followed by Massachusetts, Alaska and Oregon.

The parent company of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, Chicago-based Health Care Service Corporation, notified employees it plans to lay off 70 percent of its IT infrastructure staff and outsource system maintenance jobs to a foreign country, reports…