PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 7, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Independence Blue Cross (IBC) announces the launch of six new health care plans specifically designed to help lower overall health care costs for employers with two to 99 employees. The enhanced products are available now for coverage effective October 1, and offer employers at no added cost wellness value-added programs, such as Healthy LifestylesSM Rewards and Blue Bucks, which reward employees for participating in wellness activities to improve their health.

The six new plans -- three for Blue Solutions(R) and three for Blue Solutions(R) Plus -- feature deductible levels ranging from $1,500 to $4,500 and are designed to be offered in coordination with Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs). HRAs allow an employer to set aside funds to reimburse medical expenses paid by participating employees, and they provide the employer with flexible, affordable ways to offer quality health coverage. This type of health plan helps to drive down employers' overall health care costs and allows employers to share premium savings with employees.

"For nearly 75 years, Independence Blue Cross has been a trusted leader in the region, continually developing innovative health and wellness solutions, and exceeding the expectations of our customers," said Daniel J. Hilferty, IBC president and CEO. "Now, by offering the only small group health plans in our market that feature wellness solutions, we are demonstrating our commitment to the health and well-being of our customers -- no matter how many employees they have. It's just one more way that we're changing the game to benefit our customers."

Added Brett Mayfield, IBC vice president of sales: "These strategic additions to our existing Blue Solutions and Blue Solutions Plus portfolios add three key elements to better serve our customers: we fill a void in the small- to mid-size group product marketplace; we reward our members who improve their health; and we do both without adding any additional costs to employers. By pairing our Blue Solutions high deductible plans with Healthy Lifestyles Rewards, we also provide employers with an incentive program that engages their employees in health and wellness activities."

The new health plans are already generating interest among area brokers who serve small to mid-sized employers.

"There is no other small group product in our market offering the wellness benefits that Independence Blue Cross has built into its product portfolio," said Ed Chorzelewski, president at Brown & Brown Consulting. "The enhancements to the Blue Solutions product line are appealing because they offer employers the best of both worlds. The HRA component allows them to incent healthy behavior in employees with Healthy LifestylesSM Rewards points. And the employees themselves are being provided with the tools they need to make healthy choices, which ultimately leads to a healthier workforce. The bonus is that the product comes from IBC -- a known and respected company."

Healthy LifestylesSM Rewards

For the first time, the Healthy LifestylesSM Rewards value-added program will be available to all IBC small group customer accounts. This innovative, incentive-based, online wellness program must be paired with an HRA, Health Savings Account (HSA), or any high-deductible health plan, and is offered with no administrative fees to the employer or the employee. Through Healthy LifestylesSM Rewards, employees engage in a variety of wellness activities to earn HealthPoints, including:

HealthPoints ultimately equate to dollars that employers deposit into an HRA or HSA spending account to offset employee deductibles. Every month, employers receive a monthly earnings report that lets them know how many HealthPoints their employees earned.

Spending Blue Bucks on Worksite Wellness

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New Market-Leading Health Plans From Independence Blue Cross Offer More for Your Money

Focus on latest medication management and dispensing technologies highlights importance of patient safety and cost reduction to Asia Pacific health care providers

ROLLE, Switzerland, Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- CareFusion, a leading global medical technology company, will kick off a global exhibition tour as it focuses on expanding its patient safety technologies to health care providers in the Asia Pacific region.

"Just like in nearly every corner of the globe, hospitals across the Asia Pacific region are looking for innovative products and services that measurably help improve the safety and quality of care, with a keen focus on reducing the cost of care," said Prasanna Parthasarathy, vice president of Medical Systems International at CareFusion. "These critical needs align with CareFusion's mission, and we are committed to serving and growing our presence in the Asia Pacific region."

Beginning at HIMSS AsiaPac 2012, being held 17-19 September in the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, CareFusion will showcase products that help improve patient safety and clinician workflow through enhanced medication management, safe infusion technology and supply dispensing automation in booth 505.

During HIMSS AsiaPac 2012, a multi-national CareFusion team from the USA, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore will present medication management systems, carry out product demonstrations and take visitors on individual information tours of the products on display. CareFusion technologies and products in the conference and exhibition venue include:

-- Pyxis MedStation(TM) ES system( http://www.carefusion.com/medical

-products/medication-management/medication-technologies/pyxis-med

station-es-system ) -- enterprise wide automation of the medication

management process

-- Rowa Vmax( http://www.rowa.de/Rowa-Vmax.862.0.html?&L=1 )(R) -- the

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CareFusion to Showcase Patient Safety Products During Global Exhibition Tour Across Asia Pacific Region

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican governors who've balked at creating new private insurance markets under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul may end up getting stuck with the very thing they're trying to avoid.

Unless Mitt Romney wins in November, states that haven't set up the required markets could find Washington calling the shots on some insurance issues the states traditionally manage, from handling consumer complaints to regulating plans that will serve many citizens.

It could turn into a political debacle for those who dug in to fight what they decry as "Obamacare."

"You're kind of rolling the dice if you think (Obama's health care law) will go away," said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, a Republican. If Romney can't make good on his vow to repeal the overhaul, "you are just giving up a lot of authority."

The law envisioned that states would run the new markets, called exchanges, with federal control as a fallback only. But the fallback now looks as if it will become the standard option in about half the states -- at least initially.

It would happen through something called the federal exchange, humming along largely under the radar on a tight development schedule overseen by the Health and Human Services Department in Washington.

Exchanges are new online markets in which individual consumers and small businesses will shop for health insurance among competing private plans. The Supreme Court's health care decision left both

The exchanges are supposed to demystify the process of buying health insurance, allowing consumers to make apples-to-apples comparisons. Consumers will also be able to find out if they're eligible for new federal subsidies to help pay premiums, or if they qualify for expanded Medicaid.

It's all supposed to work in real time, or close to it, like online travel services. Open enrollment would start a little over a year from now, on Oct. 1, 2013, with coverage kicking in the following Jan. 1.

Eventually more than 25 million people are expected to get coverage through exchanges, including many who were previously uninsured. As exchanges get more customers, competition among insurance plans could help keep costs in check.

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Governors aside, health care markets being shaped by feds

Perhaps youve had a mammogram recently, or taken a child for an immunization or consulted with a specialist about a weight problem. Since late 2010, those visits to health care providers have carried an additional benefit: Theyre free. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law 28 months ago and upheld in June by the Supreme Court, its illegal for insurers to charge consumers a co-payment for a long list of health care services designed to prevent disease.

In fact, while they have been largely overshadowed by the furor over the requirement that everyone carry health insurance, there are many provisions in the law designed to encourage wellness, fitness and prevention. Its an effort to improve health and reduce the ever-escalating cost of health care.

(ANNA PARINI/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

Some measures have been in effect for nearly two years and escaped cancellation when the Supreme Court preserved the law. Others are on the way. Just last week, the controversial regulations on free contraceptives and other preventive care for women took effect.

A large portion of health-care costs are attributable to preventable disease. Federal statistics show, for example, that more than one-third of American adults are obese a condition that carries all manner of health risks, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. The health-care law tilts heavily toward preventive services and developing new prevention policies.

When you remove cost barriers, people are much more likely to use services and thats been demonstrated for many, many years, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation who specializes in health-care reform and private insurance.

The benefits kick in when your health insurance plan changes or is updated. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 54 million people have received free services under the law that previously would have cost them at least a co-payment.

Workplace benefits

Most people will receive the greatest tangible impact of the new law where they work. That only makes sense. Its where most of us get our health insurance, and employers increasingly have been turning to wellness programs to cut costs anyway.

A 2010 study by Harvard University researchers, published in the journal Health Affairs, concluded that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent. It remains difficult, however, to pinpoint which wellness programs produce the greatest bang for employers buck.

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Obama’s health-care law: The fitness and wellness provisions you may have missed