CIGNA has released the latest of its reports on the experience of its Consumer Driven health plans. It has issued a press release saying, "As overall medical costs continue to increase by double digits annually, medical costs for individuals in account-based consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) went down 26% over four years." And it adds that this happened, "while levels of care for their preventive medicine, chronic disease management and evidence-based treatments were higher than their counterparts in traditional PPO and HMO health plans."

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury jointly issued new rules providing parity for consumers enrolled in group health plans who need treatment for mental health or substance use disorders.

On Saturday, December 19th, the United States Senate approved legislation extending certain provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 related to the COBRA continuation coverage subsidy, and has since been signed into law by President Obama.

Analysis of the Major Provisions in the Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009