Healthcare costs

The Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage Family Caregivers Act aims to create a strategy for employers and employees who support loved ones.

Brokers must move away from typical carrier negotiations and bring real cost-saving strategies to clients.

Insurance expenses have become the country’s No.1 financial concern, providing an urgent need for transparent coverage information.

The insurer says it will continue updating its supplemental health employee benefit suite in 2018.

President James Klein spoke with EBN about the organization’s agenda, now that Cadillac tax implementation is delayed another two years.

Collecting cost data and offering consumer-oriented tools to employees can help firms expose the widespread problem of variation in medical price and quality.

The problem can result in financial burdens and lost productivity for employees, but companies can provide support services and tools, including an advocacy service through the benefits plan.

Ex-president of Eli Lilly's U.S. arm, Alex Azar, was confirmed to head the Department of Health and Human Services, setting a permanent replacement for Tom Price.

President James Klein spoke with EBA about the organization’s agenda, now that Cadillac tax implementation is delayed another two years.

The Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage Family Caregivers Act aims to create a strategy for employers and employees who support loved ones.

Companies should consider adjusting workloads and provide workers with a flexible schedule so they can go to doctors’ appointments.

Employer groups applaud pushing ACA provision’s implementation to 2022 in funding bill, call for full repeal.

The problem can result in financial burdens and lost productivity for employees, but companies can provide support services and tools, including an advocacy service through the benefits plan.

This could include providing employees with a flexible schedule to attend doctors’ appointments and/or adjusting their workload.

Benefit groups applaud inclusion of the measure in House bill, expect it will still pass when Congress eventually reaches a deal.

The due dates for filing with the IRS remain unchanged for now, but advisers and clients must monitor developments that may repeal or modify rules.

The CVS-Aetna deal, for example, would have the potential to take over costly, and previously difficult-to-control, primary care costs.

As group purchasing coalitions become more popular, they are increasingly susceptive to mismanagement due to low volume, lack of risk control and poor adviser experience.

Long used by larger companies, these medical stop-loss systems are now benefitting a wide range of businesses.

Perceived benefits of CVS/Aetna deal are likely to encourage organizations to consider consolidating as well — could Walmart and Humana be next?