Healthcare

Two years ago, eyewear framemaker Aspex filed suit against vision benefits titan Vision Service Plan under anti-trust and unfair competition claims that VSP had stolen Aspex’s patented technology and business. The initial claim and a subsequent appeal both were dismissed in courts.

Employers want more timely access to reporting and more transparency from their wellness vendors, according to a recent survey of 430 employers conducted by OptumHealth.

The U.S. Senate narrowly backed a key plank of President Barack Obama's health care law last Thursday by rejecting a sweeping Republican measure that would have allowed employers to opt out of birth control coverage and other services on moral grounds.

Voluntary benefits have been a growing trend for almost 15 years. Recent surveys show employee-paid benefits are on the minds of brokers, employers and the workforce alike. According to a 2011 study by LIMRA, 30% of U.S. employers are considering adding a voluntary benefit to replace employer-paid and contributory benefits within the next two years - affecting between 19 million and 45 million employees. These numbers aren't surprising. Even with slight improvement in the U.S. unemployment rate, employers have responded to the poor economy and rising health care costs by making the tough decision to shift the costs of certain benefits to their employees.

Are you still using just a hammer in your benefits practice? Too many benefit brokers have been showing up at the jobsite equipped only with the hammer of health insurance, limiting their ability both to add new revenue and to be consultative and solve other HR problems.

In the two years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's passage the health care industry has seen a flurry of activity. And much of this activity has been around technology innovation related to health insurance exchanges, but there are other technologies in the works as well. Here is a retrospective on the last two years of technology innovation, which also serves as a good indicator of where technology will likely be going in HIT as it may relate to PPACA.

While some people justifiably claim that the defined contribution/401(k) market is mature, there's a school of thought that believes the market is about to go through radical changes. Primarily, a broad-based realization that DC plans will become the main retirement vehicle for the post-baby boom generation, causing greater scrutiny, focus and hopefully innovation for all involved.

Big shifts may be coming in how retirement plans are managed after the Labor Department announced the final version of its rules under Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA, which require broker dealers to disclose their services and fees to plan sponsors for individual plans.

The American Association for Critical Illness Insurance estimates that about one million Americans now have CI insurance protection. It's a good thing too, as nearly two-thirds of U.S. bankruptcies are the result of medical expenses, the association reports.

Open enrollment 2012 is long wrapped up, but carriers are already preparing for 2013. As the health care market is in a constant state of change, EBA spoke with the major medical providers for their views of trends and what to expect in the future.