Insurers are well-positioned to manage costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as new healthcare business competition from Amazon, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Cigna announced six leadership changes across its insurance and Evernorth health services Dec. 10.

Humana will offer its own version of CMS' Primary Care First model across 48 states and the District of Columbia, the insurer said Dec. 10.

Centene completed its acquisition of Apixio, a healthcare-focused data science company, according to a Dec. 8 news release.

Bruce Broussard, the CEO of Humana, was named among Fortune's top business people of the year. 

The District of Columbia has some of the lowest annual health insurance costs for employees in the nation, according to a 2019 Commonwealth Fund report.

Here are six recent contract agreements and conflicts between payers and providers: 

Bon Secours Mercy Health and Anthem Health Plans of Virginia could not reach a new agreement that would have kept three of the Cincinnati-based health system's hospitals in Anthem's network.

Individuals in the U.S. are growing more concerned with their finances as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, according to a new survey from Cigna.

Half of private businesses surveyed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics furloughed workers to respond to financial stress from the COVID-19 pandemic — and most of those companies stopped paying health insurance premiums for furloughed workers, too, according to new data.

Health insurers can expect some volatility in their quarterly earnings next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ratings agency Fitch Ratings said Dec. 7. 

A U.S. district judge gave preliminary approval for a $2.7 billion settlement from Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers. The settlement is for an antitrust lawsuit that accuses the companies of conspiring to divide markets and avoid directly competing with each other. 

Centene named Brent Layton executive vice president of markets, products and international, as well as chief business development officer, effective Jan. 1.

Aetna joined a growing number of payers updating their coverage policies to include noninvasive prenatal testing for all pregnancies, according to GenomeWeb.

The Supreme Court will decide if Medicaid work requirements supported by the White House should be upheld, according to The New York Times. 

As more Americans age into eligibility for Medicare, for-profit Medicare Advantage health plans are growing their enrollment much quicker than their nonprofit counterparts, according to a new report from The Chartis Group, a healthcare advisory group.

St. Luke's Health Partners, a 3,400-member provider group affiliated with St. Luke's Health System in Boise, Idaho, struck a value-based payment arrangement with Humana, the organizations said Dec. 2. 

Humana will acquire full ownership of iCare, a Wisconsin Medicaid health plan, the insurer said Dec. 3.

UnitedHealth Group is working with Eli Lilly on a clinical trial that will study at-home infusions of the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody treatment.

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.