Aetna

In the Region Trump exits bankruptcy Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. said Friday that it had emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan that the company, its bondholders, and Donald J. Trump had submitted for the struggling casino firm to exit its third bankruptcy. The same plan had prevailed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this year over one put forth by billionaire Carl Icahn. Under the exit plan, $225 million of new equity will be injected into the company by its new owners - led by Avenue Capital Group of New York - including $125 million for debt repayment and $100 million toward capital expenditures and other costs.

Daniel F. McGill Sr., 81, of Rhawnhurst, a retired insurance marketing executive with a sense of humor, died Monday, March 4, of cancer at a relative's home in Horsham Township. For 40 years, Mr. McGill worked for Aetna Inc. in Center City. He led the marketing of the firm's products to independent insurance brokerages in the Philadelphia area and South Jersey. Born in Rhawnhurst, he lived there for most of his life before moving in with a daughter last October when his health failed.

When public hearings on the proposed merger of the state's two largest health insurers begin next month, speakers opposed to the deal are sure to complain that a combination of Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc. would quash competition. In the Philadelphia marketplace, Independence Blue Cross dominates its competitors, commanding a lion's share of the business, though both it and Highmark say they need to get bigger to fend off national insurers such as Aetna Inc., which is gaining market share.

When public hearings on the proposed merger of the state's two largest health insurers begin next month, speakers opposed to the deal are sure to complain that a combination of Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc. would quash competition. In the Philadelphia marketplace, Independence Blue Cross dominates its competitors, commanding a lion's share of the business, though both it and Highmark say they need to get bigger to fend off national insurers such as Aetna Inc., which is gaining market share.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has asked Independence Blue Cross and Aetna Inc. to investigate allegations that the company they hired to manage mental-health treatment is creating bureaucratic roadblocks to proper care and payment. The move came in response to a highly critical report on Magellan Health Services from the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, said Stacy Mitchell, director of the department's Bureau of Managed Care. Blue Cross and Aetna are responsible for Magellan's conduct, she said yesterday, and have undertaken "full-scale investigations.

At a time when health-insurance premiums continue their steady rise, Pennsylvania legislators will likely pass twin bills in the Senate and House that will broaden the state Insurance Department's ability to review rate increases. That sounds as if it should be good news to health advocates such as Antoinette Kraus and Sharon Ward, who have been tracking the legislation in Harrisburg. The bills are set to come to a vote Wednesday. But it's not good news, Kraus and Ward say. "If this law passes, fewer rate reviews will be scrutinized," said Ward, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center in Harrisburg.

Jane Coggeshall Soffronoff, 79, who had a varied career in nursing, died Tuesday at the medical facility of the Normandy Farms Estates retirement community in Blue Bell. During her career she worked as private-duty nurse, staff nurse, head nurse, evening supervisor, patient-care coordinator, director of nursing, and utilization review consultant. Among the facilities and companies were Abington Memorial Hospital, Temple University Hospital and Aetna/U.S. Healthcare, for which she held a claims position until retiring in 1989.

In­de­pend­ence Blue Cross, the largest health in­sur­er in the Philadelphia re­gion, said Tues­day that its 2011 net in­come soared 49 percent, to $314.8 mil­lion. The com­pa­ny's prof­it mar­gin of 3.4 per­cent was its biggest in at least 10 years. "I'm proud of the pro­gress we've made," said IBC's president and chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer, Dan­iel J. Hilferty. The in­sur­er has rebounded from two years of losses, in 2008 and 2009. Glen Philips, an IBC customer, said it bothered him to hear of IBC's strong profits, given the heavy cost of buying insurance for 40-plus employees at Philips Bros.

The Pennsylvania Psychological Association blasted Magellan Health Services yesterday for what it called inefficient rules and bureaucratic roadblocks that it said keep Southeastern Pennsylvania patients from getting care and therapists from getting paid. Therapists have been dropped temporarily from Magellan's rolls for no apparent reason, and communication with the company is so slow it's sometimes impossible to meet deadlines, the association said in a report released to the public.