Healthcare plans

Commentary: Many of the world’s leading employers offer expert second opinions as a valued employee benefit that can save money by averting unnecessary testing and treatment, decrease absenteeism, and promote employee retention.

Employers offering high deductible plans – particularly those who have gone the full replacement route – still need to beef up their educational efforts.

Two Urban Institute reports funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 9.4 million fewer families struggled to pay medical bills in early 2015 than just before the rollout of public exchanges and Medicaid expansion in 2013.

The consolidation of two health insurer giants has divided employers into two camps.

Commentary: Personal care in times of great distress not only delivers more effective care, but it also does it more efficiently, says Sam Fleet.

As they struggle to become financially stable, state-based health insurance marketplaces are lagging behind the federally-facilitated marketplace and are likely to continue to do so in the near future.

With 24 Republican senators up for reelection in November 2016, not to mention the presidential election, there is so much set to change for both public and private exchanges.

About 6.6 million U.S. taxpayers paid a penalty imposed for the first time this year for not having health insurance, about 10% more than the Obama administration had estimated – though a portion didn’t need to.

The $34.1 billion blockbuster deal between Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. is seen as complementary to both health insurers in terms of helping grow their involvement in private and public health insurance exchanges.

In the constantly changing health insurance business, the only way to stay ahead of the competition is to reinvest in your company, your employees and your technology. That’s what Sparks, Md.-based Kelly & Associates Insurance Group has been doing. What can smaller firms learn from Kelly and why is the continual reinvestment so important?

President Barack Obama asked the U.S. Senate to confirm Andy Slavitt as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Commentary: Waiting for the results of the 2016 presidential election before doing any Cadillac tax planning is not a good benefits strategy.

To stay abreast of private exchange trends, advisers, employers, insurers and other legal and industry experts will share their insights about private exchanges at this year’s EBA/EBN Private Healthcare Exchanges conference in downtown Chicago, July 23-24.

Employers are becoming more proactive in asking hospitals to participate in The Leapfrog Group’s surveys.

Commentary: Insurance is complex and relying on technology alone for employee education isn’t realistic.

It’s no surprise that health care costs are continuing to rise and while employers remain committed to providing benefits, many are re-evaluating their benefit strategies.

Pent-up demand for various medical services has been identified among newer public exchange enrollees who deferred or avoided treatment because of financial constraints resulting from a lack of health insurance, notes the first in a series of research papers on so called preference-sensitive services.

Commentary: Disruption is the word of the day in the evolving health insurance industry.

A group of lawmakers has introduced legislation to roll back guidance from the Treasury Department that prohibits employers from using stand-alone health reimbursement arrangements to reimburse employees for health care-related expenses.

Commentary: The ACA’s Cadillac tax is like a patient, powerful hurricane moving across the Atlantic. If it makes landfall, the impact will be dramatic.