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.: 

Several health insurers are entering or expanding their footprint in the ACA marketplaces in 2021. It marks the third year of consecutive growth for the marketplaces, according to an analysis published Nov. 23 by the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

A new Trump administration rule on drug pricing will require health insurers to publicly disclose their negotiated rates for prescription drugs, according to Kaiser Health News. 

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

Telehealth use among Anthem's Medicare Advantage members grew exponentially during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report the insurer published Nov. 17.

Rockledge, Fla.-based Health First may no longer be considered an in-network provider for Cigna members if the organizations don't reach a new reimbursement agreement, according to Florida Today.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will continue waiving member cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing and treatment through spring 2021, and will maintain other initiatives put in place to help patients access care during the pandemic, the insurer said Nov. 17.

Expanding health insurance coverage to uninsured Americans and improving the design of high-deductible health plans are initiatives that the American Medical Association supports, the organization's house of delegates said.

Patients and employers could see their healthcare costs decrease by 62 percent if diagnostic imaging was shifted from hospital outpatient settings to lower-cost imaging centers, according to a report from UnitedHealth Group.

Nearly a quarter of all claims for COVID-19 tests are coming from out-of-network providers, and the share of claims for tests with inflated prices has grown since this summer, according to a survey from the health insurance trade group America's Health Insurance Plans. 

The board of directors of America's Health Insurance Plans named Bruce Broussard, president and CEO of Humana, as its new chair for 2021.

In September, Cigna rebranded its health services division as Evernorth. 

Health insurers can expect several factors, like interest rates, regulation and possible transformation of government healthcare, to negatively affect their credit in the long term, according to a new report from credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings.