Cigna is buying back $2 billion in common stock through accelerated repurchase agreements with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase Bank.

GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation, the parent company of Florida Blue, is acquiring San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Triple-S Management in an effort to further secure its foothold in Florida and Puerto Rico. 

MedStar's network of Washington D.C.-area hospitals are cutting ties with two insurance plans, leaving about 165,000 Medicaid beneficiaries without access to local providers.

CMS will delay enforcement of the insurance price transparency rule by six months, according to recent guidance from the agency. 

CVS Health employees, including those at Aetna, have until Oct. 31 to get vaccinated if they interact with patients or are a corporate worker.

A cast of insurers are forging ahead with virtual-only healthcare plans, but several are diverging on scope and application.

Iowa's Medicaid program has seen rapid growth throughout the pandemic, which analysts have said puts it in "uncharted territory," according to The Gazette.

Seventy-four percent of health plans are worried about meeting the No Surprises Act's Advanced Explanation of Benefits requirements, according to survey results released Aug. 23 by healthcare payment company Zelis.

CMS is encouraging all Medicare Advantage organizations and Medicare-Medicaid plans to waive or relax certain prior authorization requirements amid the COVID-19 surge.

Upticks in public and ACA marketplace coverage offset losses in employer-sponsored health insurance, leaving the nation's uninsured rate largely unchanged because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an Aug. 23 brief published by the Urban Institute. 

Jennifer Vermeer is leaving her role as assistant vice president for population health and external affairs with University of Iowa Health Care to join Molina Healthcare.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is giving employees who are vaccinated by Oct. 1 $500 for getting their shot.

For Affordable Care Act enrollees who don't receive subsidies, 2021 had been a year of rising premiums and swelling costs prior to the American Rescue Plan Act, according to an eHealth report. 

Mike Cole will lead Aetna's North Atlantic territory, a news release shared with Becker's Aug. 19 said.

Premera Blue Cross signed a multi-year agreement with Seattle-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, the insurer announced Aug. 19. 

Providers in 12 Western states will no longer be mailed paper remittance advice, or proof that an invoice has been paid, for medical claims to network healthcare professionals and facilities, UnitedHealthcare said in a bulletin.

General Motors allowed 24,000 employees to opt in to a direct contracting agreement with Henry Ford Health System in 2019, and that experiment is showing cost savings promise for Michigan's second largest employer. 

The American Dental Association implored congressional leadership to support Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., and the Medicaid Dental Benefit Act, which would loop dental coverage into Medicaid. 

The employer-based health insurance landscape has seen constant readjustment over the past decade, putting firms at a decisive crossroads. 

One of the developing insurance battlefields are members who are forced to choose between paying for healthcare needs or basic needs, such as groceries, said Paul Hain, MD, CMO of GoHealth.