This week we are reading about Centene’s $15B Wellcare deal, term life insurance market predictions, and CMS’s 2019 Exchange Open Enrollment Period Final Report.

Centene’s $15B WellCare Deal Takes a Bigger Share of The Booming Medicare Business | Forbes | March 27, 2019

Centene’s decision to buy WellCare Health Plans for more than $15 billion gives the combined national health insurer a stronger presence in the fast-growing Medicare Advantage business.

 

Both Centene and WellCare are in similar government health insurance businesses and better known for administering Medicaid benefits for poor Americans in contracts with states across the country. Centene also sells subsidized individual coverage known as Obamacare in 20 states under the Affordable Care Act and boasts 20% market share in that business.

 

On Wednesday, Centene said its proposed acquisition of WellCare gives the combined company 22 million members in all 50 U.S. states and combined 2019 revenues of $97 billion based on projections the companies have made.

Read the full article on Forbes.com here.


Term Life Insurance Market Predicted To Grow At A CAGR Of 3% By 2025 | insurancenewsnet.com | March 27, 2019

Term life insurance is life insurance that provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time, the relevant term. In 2017, the global Term Life Insurance market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 3.0% during 2018-2025.

 

This report focuses on the global Term Life Insurance status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Term Life Insurance development in United States, Europe and China.

Read the full article on insurancenewsnet.com here.


CMS Issues the 2019 Exchange Open Enrollment Period Final Report | CMS | March 25, 2019

CMS Issues the 2019 Exchange Open Enrollment Period Final Report
Agency also extends the policy allowing issuers to continue “grandmothered” plans.

 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today released the Health Insurance Exchanges 2019 Open Enrollment Report. With the Trump Administration’s focus on making healthcare more affordable, the report confirms another successful open enrollment period coinciding with a stabilization of premiums after years of substantial increases.  Specifically, the report shows plan selections in Exchange plans in the 50 states and D.C. remained steady at 11.4 million. This represents a minimal decline of around 300,000 plan selections from the same time last year. Also, as outlined in the report, average total premiums for plans selected through HealthCare.gov dropped by 1.5 percent from the prior year, the first decline since the Exchanges began operations in 2014.

Read the full press release on CMS.gov here.