Healthcare costs

With mergers such as CVS and Aetna as well as Optum and DaVita Medical in motion, business owners fear the deals may impact health plan strategies, Aon finds.

Compliance expert Dan Kuperstein sounds off on how the regulations work, how it affects companies and what businesses should do next.`

For agents, the days of identifying, offering and then helping clients select from a handful of broad-based options are in the rearview mirror.

Benefit advisers are open to small employer clients embracing new association health plans, but some may shy away from them for fear of losing commissions.

CVS Health and Aetna were both talking to other potential partners during early discussions that led to their $68 billion merger.

Proposal would allow some employers to band together and purchase association health plans.

Benefit advisers and employers need to take aim at physicians overprescribing pain meds and the insurance carriers who look the other way.

Employers can expect participation to continue growing thanks to employee demand and the use of better data and online enrollment, according to Eastbridge Consulting research.

Telehealth will tackle behavioral health, second opinions for cancer and more, says Teladoc’s Dan Trencher.

Employers should work to prevent the spread of illness in the office by offering shots at on-site locations and dispelling common misconceptions about the vaccine.