A new Cigna policy that limits coverage for hospital-based MRI and CT scans could have a "profoundly negative" effect on children and adolescents who require advanced outpatient imaging, radiologist groups wrote in a Nov. 24 letter to Cigna leaders.

Prime Accountable Care West and Humana struck a new in-network agreement, the companies said Dec. 2.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and U.S. Anesthesia Partners signed a long-term agreement that allows BCBSTX members to continue receiving services from the national anesthesia provider at in-network rates. 

Oscar named R. Scott Blackley its new CFO, effective March 16.

Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Aetna named Jeb Dunkelberger CEO of their Sutter Health | Aetna joint venture health plan. They announced the appointment Dec. 2.

CMS finalized Medicare coverage expansions Dec. 1 for artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices, which are used for patients with life-threatening heart failure.

Several commercial health insurers will waive member cost-sharing — which includes copays, deductibles and coinsurance — for COVID-19 testing and treatment into the next year.

UnitedHealth Group predicts it will record between $277 billion and $280 billion in revenue for 2021, according to an outlook released Dec. 1 ahead of the company's annual investor conference. 

Employees in Minnesota face some of the highest annual health insurance costs in the nation, according to a ranking from Yahoo Finance.

The following payer executives changed their positions in November.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey threatened to stop paying medical claims for about 14,000 employees of the Jersey City Board of Education, a lawsuit filed by the board alleges, according to NJ.com.

Washington insurance officials fined Aliera Healthcare, an Atlanta-based healthcare company, for selling illegal health insurance, according to a Nov. 24 press release.

UnitedHealthcare will push back a change for coding laboratory tests until Jan. 1, 2022, a little less than a year after it was supposed to take effect.

A merger between Cigna and Anthem failed because Cigna's CEO and board intentionally sabotaged the proposed $48 billion deal, according to an unsealed lawsuit filed by Cigna investors.

A physician-led ACO that collaborates with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas recorded lower inpatient admissions in 2019, among other improvements in outcomes. 

UnitedHealth named Matthew Friedrich its executive vice president and chief legal officer, the healthcare company said Nov. 20.

New Jersey legislators proposed a bill Nov. 19 that aims to reorganize the state's largest commercial insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, according to local radio station New Jersey 101.5. 

Oscar Health, a health insurance startup, has expanded its partnerships with four providers for 2021 health coverage since August.

Patients who live in states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA were more likely to receive an earlier diagnosis of colon cancer than those who live in states that didn't expand the program, according to a study published Nov. 23 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 

Here are the CEOs of the five largest health insurers in the U.S.: