This week we are reading about how Humana is planning to price their Medicare drug plans for 2020, the positive growth in life sales, and changes to how Transamerica is administering its long term care business.
Humana turns to game theory for new Medicare pricing as insurers juggle Trump rebate uncertainty | CNBC | March 22, 2019
Humana executives say they are modeling a number of scenarios to try to figure out how they’ll price their Medicare drug plans for 2020 as the health insurance industry awaits new pharmacy benefit rebate regulations expected this spring from the Trump administration.
“We’re spending a lot of time at Humana doing some game theory, a variety of different ways to try to understand what different options we have here, depending on the rule — the specifications of the rules,” Alan Wheatley, president of Humana’s Medicare, Medicaid and specialty health plans division, said earlier this week at the company’s investor day.
Wheatley told investors Tuesday that the Trump proposal to force Medicare plans to pass on negotiated drug discounts to consumers at the pharmacy counter would result in lower prices for its members using brand names drugs, but there will be trade-offs.
Read the full article on CNBC.com here.
U.S. Life Insurance Activity Stays Positive | MIB Life Index | March 8, 2019
U.S. life insurance application activity remained just barely above par in February, with the composite Index up 0.4%, YOY, according to the MIB Life Index. This is the second consecutive month of YOY growth for the composite Index since July 2018. Once again, the shift has been away from younger age buyers, with the primary drivers of the composite coming from older and middle age life insurance applicants. Younger ages make up some 53% of the total Life Index, which speaks to the strength of age 45 and up buying trend. Application activity in February 2019 was up 2.4% versus January 2019, consistent with seasonal trends for this time period.
Read the full report on MIBgroup.com here.
Transamerica announces agreement with LTCG for administration of long term care insurance | PRNewswire | March 21, 2019
Transamerica announces today that it has entered into an agreement with LTCG, an independent third party administrator, to transfer the administration and claims management of its long term care insurance business line. The transaction will enable Transamerica to accelerate the enhancement of its digital capabilities and the modernization of its long term care insurance platform. Services are expected to commence in the third quarter of 2019.
LTCG will provide comprehensive third party administration services for Transamerica’s long term care insurance product line including new business, policyholder service, claims processing and care management. Transamerica will continue administration and servicing of its other insurance, investment, and retirement solutions on existing platforms.