It seems there's no stopping investors' stampede into HealthSpring these days: Less than a week after wrapping up a $300 million stock sale that temporarily pushed down its paper, the Franklin-based health insurer has charged up more than 10 percent and is changing above $40 for the first time ever. Volume is above the daily average for the seventh straight day.

All but one Madison County commissioner last night supported a resolution brought by Jackson-Madison County General Hospital to oppose efforts to repeal a law that lets the hospital negotiate exclusive contracts with health insurers. Local hospital heavyweight CHS last month joined the push to overturn the law, which it says creates an unfair market.

Two senior officers at Franklin-based insurer HealthSpring last week cashed in some of their chips by exercising stock options and selling on the resulting shares. General Counsel and Secretary Gentry Barden booked a $2.6 million profit on his sales, Executive VP Matthew Morris more than $1.7 million. Shares of HealthSpring (Ticker: HS) are up some 40 percent year to date and have more than doubled in the past 12 months.

The folks at New Jersey money manager Lord Abbett appear to have decided to cash in their HealthSpring chips. Since the end of 2010, they have trimmed their stake in the local Medicare Advantage insurer by almost 580,000 shares and now own 4.2 percent of the company, down from 5.8 percent last fall. HealthSpring's stock (Ticker: HS) is up almost 40 percent year to date and has more than doubled in the past year, lifting its market cap well north of $2 billion.

As part of a strategy to "unroll" programs in various U.S. regions, insurance firm Cigna has selected Franklin-based MedSolutions as its nationwide radiology benefits manager. The sizable contract — Cigna is one of the largest for-profit insurance companies in the country — extends the companies' 13-year relationship.

MedSolutions, led by CEO Curt Thorne, has been growing of late. The company secured a new $300 million investment at the end of 2010.