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Managed Care Companies
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CIGNA EXPANDS HSA OFFERINGS IN AZ
Cigna Corp. (Philadelphia) said it would begin offering its consumer-driven Choice Fund HSA plan to Arizona businesses with 51 to 200 employees, with coverage effective July 1, 2005. Previously, the HSA plan was available only to employers with more than 200 employees. JPMorgan Chase is preferred trustee.
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PACADVANTAGE TO OFFER AETNA HSA PLANS
PacAdvantage (San Francisco), a group purchasing alliance for small businesses in California founded by the Pacific Business Group on Health, will begin offering three HSA-compatible PPOs from Aetna effective July 1, 2005.
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UNITEDHEALTH EARLY RETIREE PLAN HAS HRA OPTION
UnitedHealth Group (Minnetonka, MN) has launched a health plan for large groups that want to extend coverage to early retirees, in which the employer and employee put pre-tax funds into an account during active employment and then use the funds to pay for major medical coverage at retirement.
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BLUE SHIELD-CA HAS 120,000 HDHP LIVES
Blue Shield of California (San Francisco) said it had 120,000 members enrolled in high-deductible health plans as of May 19, with sales boosted by the introduction of HSAs.
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BCBS-IL, FBSC OFFER HSA PAYROLL DEDUCTION
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (Chicago) is offering its HSA-compatible high-deductible health plans as a voluntary benefit to groups of any size, with Flexible Benefit Service Corp. (Rosemont, IL) allowing employees to pay premiums through payroll deductions. The joint product, called FlexWorkplace, will be sold through brokers and general agents. BCBS-IL is a unit of Health Care Services Corp.
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BCBS-LA TAPS BANCORP AS HSA TRUSTEE
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, LA) has selected Bancorp Bank (Wilmington, DE) as its preferred HSA trustee for the company’s BlueSaver HSA-compatible high-deductible health plan. BCBS-LA had more than 85,000 individual and group BlueSaver lives as of April 30.
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UNITED’S GOLDEN RULE HAS $132 MILLION IN HSAs, MSAs
Golden Rule Insurance Co. (Indianapolis), a UnitedHealth Group company, announced that its members have more than $132 million in tax-advantaged accounts, including HSAs and MSAs. Golden Rule noted that 40% of its customers are choosing an HSA plan over more traditional types of health insurance. The company pays 4% interest on HSA accounts.
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AETNA PAYS $400 MILLION FOR ACTIVE HEALTH
With information expected to play a critical role in the future of consumer-directed healthcare, Aetna Inc. (Hartford, CT) has agreed to shell out $400 million in cash to acquire privately held Active Health Management (New York), a six-year-old provider of clinical-support tools promoting use of evidence-based medicine for physicians and health plan members.
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HSA LIVES TOP 1 MILLION, AHIP TALLY SHOWS
The number of individual and group members choosing HSA-compatible high-deductible health plans is soaring, with 1.031 million lives signed up to date, more than double the 438,000 that had signed up as of last September, according to a tally by America’s Health Insurance Plans (Washington).
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CIGNA NAMES VP, CONSUMERISM
Cigna HealthCare, the healthcare unit of Cigna Corp. (Philadelphia), has named Michael Showalter vice president of consumerism in charge of consumer-driven healthcare product development and management, including the company’s HRA and HSA-compatible ChoiceFund product. He was most recently with UnitedHealth Group and Definity Health.
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WELLPOINT TO BUY LUMENOS FOR $185 MM
Consolidation continues to sweep through the dwindling ranks of stand-alone HRA and defined contribution healthcare pioneers, with WellPoint Inc. (Indianapolis) announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Lumenos Inc. (Alexandria, VA) for $185 million in cash.
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