health insurance costs

As health-care costs skyrocket, the ranks of uninsured Americans are growing at their fastest rate ever. A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that 50.7 million people, or 16.7% of the population, had no health coverage in 2009, up from 46.4 million, or 15.4%, in 2008.

Insurance giant Aetna (AET) reported a 63% jump in earnings per share for the third quarter. The company reported earnings per share of $1.19, up from 73 cents per share a year earlier, Aetna said in a statement. Sponsored Links The company attributed the jump in earnings to a higher commercial...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been sued by the U.S. Justice Department for what regulators say are actions by the insurer that boost both hospital and consumer costs while stifling competition.

Recent reports have suggested that health-care reform would lead to McDonald's workers losing coverage, to rate increases, to insurance companies leaving the business and to millions of seniors having to switch Medicare Advantage plans. It looks increasingly like most of those reports are proving...

The average premiums paid by individuals for private Medicare Advantage plans, which insure about one-fourth of all beneficiaries, will decline slightly next year, even as insurers provide more benefits as required by the new health care law. However, commercial insurance premiums for many people...

If your health care cost has gone up this year, you aren't alone. A new study says companies are asking their workers to pay a bigger share of company health insurance. An annual study of company health insurance plan conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Education...

A record one in six Americans is on Medicaid, the government's health program for the poor. And Medicaid is just one of several government anti-poverty programs that have seen large increases in caseloads -- and costs.

Most people rush to schedule as many medical tests as possible just before their COBRA coverage runs out. But some experts now say that's precisely the wrong thing to do when you're shopping for post-COBRA health insurance. The problem with those medical tests is that they just might find something...

The good news for early retirees is that it may be easier after June 1 to stay on their company's health insurance plan. The better news is that their costs might actually go down. One feature of the health care reform legislation -- a program offering government reinsurance to businesses that...

When she came down with the stomach flu, MaryJane Sullivan, 52, was frightened -- not because she worried that the flu would do her in but rather she didn't think she could afford the trip to the doctor's office. Unfortunately, Sullivan ended up in the ER instead, as a result of dehydration. "I...