Article is by Atul Gawande, as seen in The New Yorker It was lunchtime before my afternoon surgery clinic, which meant that I was at my desk, eating a ham-and-cheese sandwich and clicking through medical articles. Among those which caught my eye: a British case report on the first 3-D-printed hip implanted in a human [...]
Article is by Jay Hancock, as seen in the Kaiser Health News In the late 1990s you could have taken what hospitals charged to administer inpatient chemotherapy and bought a Ford Escort econobox. Today average chemo charges (not even counting the price of the anti-cancer drugs) are enough to pay for a Lexus GX sport-utility [...]
Article is by Erik Engquist, as seen in Crain's New York Business Fears of an insurance death spiral are misplaced, according to industry insiders fighting to preserve stop-loss policies for companies that self-insure. The Assembly and the Cuomo administration have concerns that letting small businesses self-fund—that is, pay their workers’ health-care bills directly—depletes the risk [...]
On March 11th, principals of Marlborough, Connecticut-based Diversified Group, participated in a lobby day in Albany, New York. The grassroots effort, organized by the Self Insurance Institute of America, was held to give SIIA members and allied stakeholders an opportunity to communicate directly with key legislators about the need to protect the ability of employers [...]
Article is by Mary E. O’Leary, as seen in the New Haven Register HARTFORD >> As the legislature looks to rein in medical expenses, state Senate leaders blamed hospital consolidations and the purchase of physician practices for ballooning costs and an increasing threat to physicians who may want to remain independent. State Senate Pro Tem [...]
In an earlier post, we discussed the key differences between TPAs and ASOs, and why you should know these differences if you're currently self-funding or considering self-funding your group health plan. For those of you unfamiliar with these terms, an Administrative Services Only (ASO) firm is a division or wholly-owned subsidiary of a national health [...]
As the rules, restrictions and complexities of Obamacare bring new challenges and increased plan costs to employer groups, it's time to step back and take a look at what IS working - and make sure that your company is taking full advantage of these opportunities. 1. Self-Funding. The advantages of self-funded healthcare plans are becoming [...]
As you may be aware, Magellan Rx purchased Partners Rx last year. You will start to see the changes of this merger beginning in January 2015. These changes include: a new logo, a new customer service phone line and new processing information for the pharmacist. Upon your group's 2015 renewal, new ID cards will be [...]
If you're still on the fence about whether or not you should self-fund the employee benefits plan for your small-to-mid-sized company, here are a few more reasons that should make that decision a little easier. Access to Claims Data Why is claims data so important? Because with it you can identify your biggest cost drivers. [...]
Article is from Arielle Levin Becker, as seen in the CT Mirror As many as 30,000 customers of the state’s health insurance exchange could lose their coverage or see a drop in the subsidies used to discount their premiums next month because they did not submit information needed to verify their eligibility, acting exchange CEO [...]
