Healthcare plans

The allure of lower premiums and higher consumer engagement is powerful, but it may not work in the end.

A growing range of cost transparency tools are attempting to help employees make better health care decisions.

“All that we are doing with health care impacts so much more than health care costs, health risk status and use of health care services – it impacts the business,” explained Bruce Sherman, MD, medical director of Employers Health Coalition.

After three years of trying to dismantle Obamacare, House Republicans now are seeking to use the website’s flawed debut to hasten its collapse.

Health care fraud will come at employers at an alarming rate, in part because the Affordable Care Act opens insurance up to millions of people who have little or no experience buying health insurance, says fraud expert Chuck Whitlock.

Avalere Health’s Elizabeth Carpenter urges everyone to remember the big picture, not just the Obamacare marketplace, “but also on the broader health care system and how things are evolving.”

“Health care costs continue to rise, and as employers look at ways to combat that, there are a number of tactics they might take,” Guardian’s Ray Marra tells EBN. “One of those tactics is to go self-funded, and obviously for self-funded, they need to build some high-end claim protection for themselves…”

Ranging in size from 100 to 30,000 employees, the exchange’s employers include Petco, Kinder Morgan and the Addison Group.

While much attention has been focused on the federal government shutdown and its effect on Affordable Care Act regulations, employers are still awaiting guidance on another key piece of legislation affecting benefits plans, the Defense of Marriage Act.

Having people shop for medical care the way they shop for cars or stereos might be ideal, in some ways. But it is not attainable as long as the shoppers are human beings.

Real estate company Keller Williams is one of the latest big firms to announce it’s offering associates access to a private health care exchange. Keller Williams’ independently owned and operated offices employ about 89,000 real estate agents — many of whom don’t have health insurance — across the country.

While the public exchanges offer a good solution for early retirees and COBRA-eligible participants, at least one expert says the exchanges are not the best option for current employees. Employers are also showing little confidence in public exchanges.

Eager to meet client needs — and keep their business — brokers hunt for information on individual exchanges, but are cautioned not to ignore the SHOP market. HR managers should be aware of the trend.

Limit applies to nongrandfathered plans using separate vendors for medical, pharmacy benefits.

Industry insiders comment on the launch of the public health care exchanges.

HIPAA may have been overlooked in the past, but new rules are bringing stricter penalties for breaches of protected health information.

Authorities presenting during an EBN web seminar outline key areas that could hamper growth of the marketplaces.

Critics say technology glitches showed public exchanges were not ready for opening day. Proponents of health reform said server-crashing traffic to exchange sites were proof of strong interest. Here's a more objective rundown of learnings from the opening of public exchanges, offered by Kev Coleman, director of Data & Research for Healthpocket.

Creating a smart consumer takes more than health care reform and adopting a consumer-driven health plan.

Pharmacy benefit management specialists say that as prices skyrocket, more and more employers will narrow pharmacies and prescriptions for their employees.