The open enrollment season for Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug benefits begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7 this year, a timespan several weeks earlier than in prior years.

The number of consumer driven health plans (CDHPs) continues to grow, leading to a decline in the percentage of savings from these plans, a new study says.

One-fifth of small business owners who offer health insurance to their workers expect to significantly change their benefits package the next time they renew their health plan as a result of federal health reform, according to a new survey.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued rules defining what constitutes too big a rate increase for health insurers.

The “most cost-effective way” for employers to rein in soaring health care costs is to self-insure, according to a research organization focused on using business technology and management principles to control health care costs.

Aetna entered an agreement to acquire its first independent third-party administrator (TPA) of self-funded health care plans for about $600 million.

A New York, N.Y.-based health insurance company must pay $760,000 in restitution for selling unauthorized health insurance in Massachusetts.

Connecticut’s insurance commissioner has issued a cease and desist order against companies in New Jersey and North Carolina, and against a New Jersey man for marketing limited health benefit plans in the state without licenses.

The U.S. Justice Department has expanded an investigation of Blue Cross/Blue Shield licensees’ alleged anti-competitive agreements with hospitals beyond Michigan, where it filed an antitrust lawsuit against the insurer.

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States reported that its 2010 charitable contributions topped $35 million.