Jane Antonio

Biography for Jane Antonio

Jane Antonio is the editor of FierceHealthPayer: AntiFraud. She joined the FierceHealthPayer team after a 27-year career in health insurance, where her most recent role was director of corporate compliance and ethics. Jane worked closely with Special Investigations Units designing and delivering employee anti-fraud training. This followed years of investigating Medicare fraud, waste and abuse cases and recovering program overpayments. Jane holds an M.A. in substance abuse counseling from Rhode Island College and a B.A. in English from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. She enjoys reading and long outdoor walks. Contact Jane at [email protected]
 

Articles by Jane Antonio

CMS invites states to change ACA benchmark plans for 2017

The federal government is letting states choose a different essential health benefits benchmark plan for 2017, and this news may re-ignite public debate about what types of services health insurance should cover in plans sold pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, LifeHealthPRO reported.

GAO: Major players dominate private insurance market

A small number of commercial insurers held the lion's share of the individual and group markets in most states in 2013, according to a new Government Accountability Office report prepared for a bi-partisan group of lawmakers. 

Competition helps keep a lid on ACA plan premiums

Insurer competition is helping control premium prices for plans offered pursuant to the Affordable Care Act that are sold in many counties where the federal government runs marketplaces.

Payer-pharma partnerships move 'beyond the pill'

Pharamceutical companies should implement "beyond-the-pill" strategies that move past their traditional business model and work with payers in new ways to meet the challenges facing the healthcare industry.

Medicaid expansion news from 4 states

Recent news reports describe the challenges of reforming Medicaid in California, Indiana, Montana and Pennsylvania and what these states are doing in response.   

Plan choices and premiums rise on federal exchange

Shoppers on Healthcare.gov will have more product choices in 2015, but premiums may rise for many customers unless they switch health plans, according to a New York Times analysis of data released Friday by the Obama Administration.

States tweak ACA exchanges in preparation for open enrollment

With the second open enrollment period starting Saturday for health plans sold pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, states are scrambling to improve performance of their exchanges and bolster customer support, The New York Times reported. The goal is to prevent a repeat of last year's enrollment bottlenecks.   

Email snafu puts member information at risk in California

California customers of Anthem Blue Cross received emails from the insurer Monday containing member-specific information in the subject line, according to The New York Times. The information included a customer age descriptor, primary language spoken and recommended health screening tests.

Payers respond to discrimination complaint involving HIV/AIDS patients

Cigna Corp. will redesign the HIV prescription drug benefits on its exchange plans sold in Florida next year in response to a complaint accusing the company--and three others--of discriminating against customers with HIV and AIDS,The Wall Street Journal reported.

What do Republican election wins mean for healthcare reform?

Republicans scored big wins in yesterday's midterm elections, and today's headlines are full of analysis of what those victories mean for the future of the Affordable Care Act.