Psychiatrists warning over merger risk
The current wave of mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector could adversely affect access to mental health services. In a letter to the US Congress the American Psychiatrist Association warn that deals such as those between Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana will further damage access to mental health professional, which it says is already inadequate.
The APA says that it is “confident the relevant authorities will be convinced that the merged entities would be a threat not only to consumer choice and pricing, but also to consumer mental health and well-being.” Reuters reports that Aetna says that it wants to change the industry so that: insurers, doctors and hospitals work together to lower costs and coordinate care to give people as many healthy days as possible."
Fitch reports on US, Canada life insurance sector
Credit ratings agency Fitch has released a new report following its examination of US and Canadian life insurance companies' financial leverage, debt-servicing capacity and maturity distribution of outstanding debt.
It says that the North American life insurance industry continues to maintain balance sheet strength and stable debt-servicing capacity. After mixed earnings for the first half of 2015, longer term the report suggests that life insurers face an uphill battle to materially improve operating earnings-based coverage metrics due to a continuation of historically low interest rates and uncertainty tied to market returns.
Additionally, a rapid uptick in interest could have a more immediate impact of capital and liquidity. Fitch believes the industry faces minimal near-term refinancing risk, since only a modest portion of outstanding borrowings mature during the remainder of 2015 and 2016.
Blue Cross, Blue Shield announce huge medical database
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plans now have access to data which will allow them to compare healthcare quality and costs across the US. Forbes says that the database of more than 2.3 billion medical procedures called Blue Cross Blue Shield Axis will not be available to consumers but insurers in the plans and employers will be able to access data and make informed choices about doctors and hospitals. The use of big data will allow the health insurers to be more transparent about costs and to better decide on who is providing quality.
