News in brief - July 3, 2000

For the second time, Aetna Inc. has broken off talks with Dutch insurer ING Groep about buying all or part of the company.

On June 18, ING confirmed that Aetna had rejected its offer to buy all of Aetna's non-health-care assets. ING reportedly was to have paid about $9 billion.

Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna said it has other suitors, although it would not reveal who they were or how much they're offering.

In March, Aetna had rejected an offer from ING and California managed care company WellPoint Health Networks to buy all of Aetna for $10 billion. At the time, Aetna believed it could get a better deal, and by getting ING by itself to offer almost as much for only a part of the company, it did.

The AMA Division of Physician and Patient Advocacy introduced an updated version of its Model Managed Care Contract at the Association's Annual Meeting in June.

The second edition of the managed care contract contains new sections addressing downcoding and bundling of claims, all-products clauses, silent PPOs, prompt pay, medical record confidentiality and other managed care contract issues that have arisen since the first edition was developed in 1997.

HMO enrollment grew just 2% from July 1998 to July 1999, down from the 7.9% growth rate the year before, InterStudy reports.

PacifiCare Health Systems, Medicare's largest HMO, said it will exit Ohio and Kentucky, where it has more than 60,000 customers, mostly in Medicare, and focus on the West.

Small businesses across the country are reporting hefty premium increases this year, prompting some companies to drop coverage.

In Colorado, for example, rates are rising by as much as 58% and the state Division of Insurance reports that the numbers of residents with small business coverage fell to a four-year low.