PBE Index grows as Starbucks moves to exchange
The java giant joins Darden Restaurants, Sears, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Walgreen and others transitioning benefits distribution to online platforms.
Healthcare costs
Wellness programs need personalization, employees say
Employers can increase historically low engagement by tailoring program structure and motivation techniques to individual employees.
The ACA notwithstanding, employer spending on health insurance per employee is dropping
Even as eligibility rates rise, limited workforce participation and smaller premium increases have kept the employer health benefits landscape stable.
Employee financial stress causing huge employer headaches
Workers’ inability to manage expenses has big consequences for employers, including lower productivity and higher healthcare costs.
Employers falling short on managing healthcare costs
Smaller companies are missing out on cost-saving opportunities, including self-funding, narrow networks and pharmacy benefit carve-outs.
Starbucks moving employees to private exchange
Baristas will soon have as much choice in their healthcare as customers do their beverages.
UnitedHealth beats estimates on Optum as ACA losses mount
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, driven by growth at its Optum technology and consulting unit.
Benefits Think The next innovation in controlling healthcare costs
Employers are increasingly adopting reference based pricing and reimbursements as a way to more effectively determine and control health costs.
Bruce F. Barr
Corporate Synergies
Boeing expands its ACO plan to cover 15,000 employees in southern California
The company’s new “Preferred Partnership” arrangement with a select network of local providers aims for cost savings and a superior patient experience.
Benefits Think Helping employees navigate the health insurance experience
It’s not as mysterious as it’s often made out to be. New findings clearly show that people are more confident about purchasing health plans when they can address their questions to another person.
Liz Reyer
GfK
Retirement scan: Can taxing the rich fix Social Security
Eliminating the tax maximum would fix much of the program's shortfall, but it could also bring unintended consequences.
Costs of women’s health procedures vary wildly across U.S.
Expenses associated with the routine birth of a child can differ by more than $20,000, a Castlight Health study finds.
Retirement scan: Can taxing the rich fix Social Security
Eliminating the tax maximum would fix much of the program's shortfall, but it could also bring unintended consequences.
Benefits Think Is the health insurance balloon about to pop?
Brokers are trying to help employers control costs, but are seeing little success, says HR Technology Advisors’ Joe Markland.
Joe Markland
Nfor1
Costs of women’s health procedures vary wildly across U.S.
Expenses associated with the routine birth of a child can differ by more than $20,000, a Castlight Health study finds.
Boeing expands its ACO plan to cover 15,000 employees in southern California
The company’s new “Preferred Partnership” arrangement with a select network of local providers aims for cost savings and a superior patient experience.
3 new wellness tech tools to watch
Employers can harness the power of technology when encouraging employees to make healthier decisions.
ACA tobacco surcharges slowed universal health care
Act falls short on shifting the burden of high health-care costs from smoking ailments to the smokers themselves and making progress toward the goal of universal health care, even for smokers, new Yale School of Public Health study finds.
3 new wellness tech tools to watch
Employers can harness the power of technology when encouraging employees to make healthier decisions.
Employers install worksite kiosks in latest telemedicine push
The move is part of a broader effort to raise productivity by reducing employee time spent traveling to and waiting for care.
