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Anthem Inc. is joining the growing number of health insurers offering premium discounts, as the companies see savings from sharp drop-offs in surgeries and other types of care canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Anthem said it would provide $2.5 billion to customers, health-care providers and others in various forms, including premium credits of 10% to 15% in July for some individual policyholders and fully insured employers. The big insurer follows others including Premera Blue Cross, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Priority Health, as well as UnitedHealth Group Inc., that have given discounts to some customers. (Wilde Mathews, 6/4)

In a budget-panicked, coronavirus-interrupted legislative session that has already seen major proposals for how health insurance should work in the state come and go, Colorado lawmakers have just proposed another massive change. Senate Bill 215 would create a new fee on the health insurance premiums paid by close to a million people in the state. Supporters say the fee would take the place of a federal tax that is expiring at the end of the year. Money from this new fee — estimated at around $100 million per year — would be used to pay for the state’s reinsurance program and provide additional subsidies to lower health insurance prices, collectively benefiting hundreds of thousands of people who purchase coverage on their own or are currently uninsured. (Ingold, 6/4)

In a country where health insurance is heavily tied with employment, the COVID-19 pandemic and related job losses mean Gilstrap and others face the daunting prospect of trying to pay their medical bills without stable insurance or their regular income. There are options for people who find themselves unexpectedly out of work, but they are limited and can pose financial or temporal challenges of their own. (Shoro, 6/3)