Last month, we told you that Cigna and Centene were planning to offer health insurance plans in Maricopa County. Now the pickings have gotten even slimmer. Cigna just announced it will NOT be offering any plans in the state of Arizona on the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace, due to the ongoing dynamics of the Affordable Care Act.

Telehealth has been gaining in popularity with commercial health plans, and it soon may be used with Medicare too. Modern Healthcare reports that a new bi-partisan bill aims to tweak rules coverage Medicare Accountable Care organizations. One of the more notable provisions is a waiver on telehealth restrictions. This is a change sought by the American Medical Group Association and others.

Visiting my grandmother in rural Idaho when I was 17, she invited me out for a morning walk. Several miles later, she was in her rhythm and nearly running while I was tired and my feet hurt. I couldn’t believe her capacity for movement, and she was over 70 at the time! That got me thinking, who else is staying active and surprising themselves and others even as they age?

Young adults had the highest uninsured rates before the Affordable Care Act and have seen the sharpest drop in uninsured rates since 2010. Yet millions of young adults remain uninsured.

As you heard last month, WAP recently joined forces with Brokers Alliance to make life insurance products more accessible for WAP agent cross-selling. Now that you have access to Brokers Alliance products and expertise, let’s chat about how you can use those products to your advantage.

We previously told you that Cigna would be the only Marketplace provider left standing in Maricopa county. Now, we’re learning that Cigna won’t actually offer its own plans through the Affordable Care Act exchange. In fact, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, Cigna’s only role will be to offer its Cigna Medical Group network to Centene.

According to a 9/6 article in Bloomberg.com, health insurer, Cigna Corp cannot sign up new customers for its private Medicare plans during the 2016 fall open enrollment season. Sanctions were announced back in January and have not been resolved in time for this year’s open enrollment. The ban came after the U.S. found problems in how the company managed appeals and grievances, as well as drug coverage.

A new article posted in the 9/14/15 edition of The Hill, suggests that discussions may be underway about a possible settlement with insurance companies related to Obamacare payments. Several insurers have sued under the “risk corridors” program, meant to protect insurers from heavy losses in the initial period after the law was enacted. However, payouts have been limited to 12.6 percent of the money owed in the first year, due to a shortfall in funds.

Special enrollment periods (when consumers can sign up for health insurance outside of the standard open enrollment period) are only to be used in certain qualifying circumstances. To ensure that special enrollment options are not abused, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may be piloting a program to monitor and verify special enrollment insurance sign-ups.

Today, we’re sharing a post from the September 2 edition of the Phoenix Business Journal updating you on the state of the Arizona insurance marketplace. Enjoy!