Medicare premiums raised

At Bloomberg, they report that different companies that provide Medicare, have increased their health care premiums by as much as 13%, which is five times more than the premium was raised last year. These increases directly affect the elderly, as they're the ones who are billed for the increase. This is on the cusp of Obama trying to pass a new bill that would increase funding for Medicare. For more information, read this article.

Lower 4th Quarter Earnings for Humana Means Trouble

The Associated Press reports in this post in DailyAdvance.com that the health insurer Humana has reported huge fourth quarter loss in earnings due to higher claim expenses from its stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans, lower investment income and a loss in its commercial business. The company though, is forecasting a huge turnaround in 2009, with share earnings ranging from $5.90 to $6.10, compared to $3.83 at year end. Humana Chief Operating Officer Jim Murray even mentions:

"We're doing them much more vigorously and identifying new opportunities to evaluate data that makes us feel much more comfortable than we did at this point last year."

Is the expected turnaround for Humana feasible? What are your thoughts?

Medicare Co-Pays and Premiums Expected to Rise

FierceHealthcare reports today that a recent study conducted by Avalere Health LLC found that for the largest 10 drug companies, premiums are expected to rise up an average of 31 percent next year. It is also speculated that this in term might cause insurers to increase drug co-payments 75 percent (about $7) for generic drugs and a 60% increase (about $40) for brand drugs.

A spokesperson from Humana, an insurer, mentions:

“Prices reflect the experience we've seen over the past three years, and our expectations around what will most interest our members and potential members going forward."

Humana looses some Medicare Enrollees

As a result of premium bids that are higher than low income, government assigned members of Medicare, Humana expects to loose 10% of them at the beginning of 2009. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, they believe this could be positive for Humana due to the fact that higher prices would increase the bottom line, shares dropped 5% to $41.75 when it was announced that this could lead to a los of 380,000 eligible Medicare members. To ensure drug coverage for these dropped Medicare enrollees, the government will automatically re-enroll them in private drug care provider programs.