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Kate Fitch discusses the growing use of bundled payments in healthcare.

Robert Damler says that many people will be protected from paying more for Medicare Part B coverage.

Susan Philip discusses a Milliman study involving telehealth in five California community health centers.

Scott Weltz and Sue Hart weigh in on prescription drug prices and the rising cost of healthcare in the U.S.

Susan Hart talks about the increasing cost of healthcare in the U.S.

Chris Girod discusses the Milliman Medical Index and the rise in prices for prescription drugs.

The Milliman Medical Index indicates that the total cost of healthcare for a typical American family of four with a PPO in 2015 is $24,671.

Health insurers are preparing themselves for a Supreme Court ruling that could undo the marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

This article about health insurance prices in the post-ACA marketplace includes a quote from Milliman consultant Paul Houchens.

The typical cost of health care for a family of four with employer-based insurance this year is $23,215, and that amount has more than doubled in the past ten years. What is the role of the Affordable Care Act in these costs and what is the role of employers and employees in controlling these costs?

Medical costs for a typical American family with employer health benefits increased 5 percent in the past year—the smallest jump since the Milliman Medical Index debuted to track these costs more than a decade ago. Business Week reports that though it is good news that the cost increases are getting smaller, the overall costs is still a major factor in company budgets.

Only a little more than one quarter of new healthcare enrollees are in the prized 18 to 34 year old age demographic, but age doesn't tell the whole story of health or healthcare costs. 

How the Affordable Care Act is changing the lives of doctors and patients, and how will new patients affect the existing healthcare system?

Insurers are pressing ahead with a final marketing push hoping to reach "young invincibles" and bring as many young, healthy customers as possible to their rolls.

Although there are still some major unanswered questions about Obamacare enrollment, it is clear that women are signing up at much faster rates than men are. For the past three months of HHS enrollment reports, women have accounted for 55 percent of total signups. Several factors are driving this trend, including the new requirement that insurers ignore gender when they price plans, meaning women will get a better deal.

Insurers must describe their health plans and proposed rates for 2015 to state and federal regulators starting in April and May—but before they do, some of the most critical factors that go into plan design and pricing decisions may be unknown, from the size of the doctor and hospital networks that the federal government will approve to final 2014 enrollment figures and the relative health of their new plan holders.

Insurers are rushing to gather health information from the new customers they won on public marketplaces in a high-stakes outreach effort crucial to their hopes of profiting from the health-care law. Health plans need to know the health status of those signing up for coverage so they can project whether the costs are likely to outrun the premiums coming in and decide whether to keep offering plans. Now that new enrollees don’t have to disclose pre-existing conditions to buy insurance, insurers are reaching out, in an effort to quickly identify the health status of new enrollees.

Raising the overall rate of younger enrollees will be tough, but it's also important to attract the right kind of younger Americans, said Milliman principal and health insurance actuary Jim O'Connor.

If the trend continues as 2014 enrollment closes at the end of March, insurers in the new marketplaces will think twice about losing money and withdraw plans, said Milliman principal and health insurance actuary Jim O'Connor.

The Milliman Medical Index is a broad indicator around annual healthcare costs for a family of 4 with PPO coverage.