Healthcare plans

Thirty-three percent of major employers offer transgender-inclusive benefits. This is five times more companies than last year, and a big part of the push came from the Corporate Equality Index, a series of guidelines from the Human Rights Campaign that measured employers on five criteria regarding benefits for transgendered workers: short-term leave, counseling by a mental health professional, hormone therapy, medical visits to monitor hormone therapy and surgical procedures, without any exclusions.

Oncotype-DX is a genetic test for breast cancer that predicts the risk of recurrence. It costs about $3,500 and is covered by the majority of U.S. health plans. The test determines, based on the patient's genes and the genes of the cancer, the likelihood of the cancer coming back within 10 years. It can help the patient and oncologist figure out if they should treat the cancer with chemotherapy

The health care system is "so screwed up in where we invest our money," and that needs to change for costs to become manageable, said a health researcher in late January.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'social?' In today's connected world, you probably answered social media. Chances are, so did your clients' human resource professionals. Social media is definitely on everyone's radar, but when it comes to a corporate wellness program, you need to tune into another kind of frequency - social culture.

A pharmacist takes a 30-day prescription and inputs it as four weekly prescriptions - quadrupling the Medicaid dispensing fee.

Something is costing your health plan a whole lot of money, and it's largely due to uninformed choice: early induced deliveries.

The health care system is “so screwed up in where we invest our money,” and that needs to change for costs to become manageable, said a health researcher Tuesday.

The fourth annual study identifying the top U.S. health systems based was released yesterday by Thomson Reuters, which culled data from more than 300 organizations and singled out 15 hospital systems that achieved superior clinical outcomes based on a composite score of eight measures of quality, patient perception of care and efficiency.

Providers of health insurance face a momentous set of challenges in the coming years, a new report from Aite Group finds.

If the health care law is implemented without the individual mandate insurance premiums would rise by as much as 25%, according to a new report by the Urban Institute Health Policy.

What could pediatrician appointments possibly have to do with Joe Merrick's business as an online precious metals dealer? When it comes to health insurance, the answer is everything. The 13 full-time employees of Merrick's Dallas-based Provident Metals have 30 children, all under the age of 15, with four babies born in 2011 alone. That means potentially high medical bills for everything from childbirth to vaccinations, which Merrick had to factor into his health-insurance decisions.

U.S. health care spending barely rose in 2010 from record-low recession levels, as high unemployment and the loss of employer-sponsored health benefits forced many Americans to delay or forego medical treatment, government officials said.

The majority (56%) of employers say they are likely to continue to offer employer-sponsored health insurance after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act largely goes into effect in 2014, according to a new survey conducted by GfK Custom Research North America.

In the last four years, a new and highly effective service, Telemedicine, has evolved that can reduce medical claim costs by $70 per month per employee. Unlike wellness programs, where employers attempt to change the employees’ and their dependents’ lifestyle, the Telemedicine results start immediately and is quite simple. History of broker efforts to reduce claim costs …

In this rough economy consumers look to credit cards, an IRA or 401(k), even under the couch cushions for emergency cash. Many may be overlooking life insurance as a potential source of immediate funds, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

One week after new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the number of children with insurance increased by 1.2 million since President Obama signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, more than $296 million was awarded to states for ensuring more children have health coverage.

Michael D. Klansek knew something was up with his company when he read Towers Watson statistics earlier this year that showed total health care costs per employee per year are at $11,176. His PEPY costs in 2011? $7,707. And they've been that way since 2006.

"House" - the TV series following a brilliant, but curmudgeonly and troubled doctor - is of course a Hollywood production, but this fiction may be based in fact. At least one-third of all physicians will experience a time during which they have a physical, mental or behavioral condition that impairs their ability to practice medicine safely, according to The Annals of Internal Medicine.

Last year was one full of health care news, with most of it focused around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In 2012, there will be some major decisions and rules announced and decided. Here's a look back and forward at health care news.

According to data from ACSI LLC, P&C insurers are improving customer satisfaction, while life insurers are steady and health insurers are slightly declining.