On December 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA). The Act contains several provisions that impact healthcare plans and also includes several rules extending COVID relief. Below is a brief summary of the CAA provisions pertaining to employer sponsored health and welfare plans. CAFETERIA PLANS: The CAA allows [...]
This article was published on January 31, 2019 on Employee Benefit News, written by Steve Kelly. Today more than ever before, benefits and human resources professionals are struggling to provide their teams with quality coverage at affordable rates. Costs have skyrocketed for the more than 150 million Americans who receive healthcare coverage through their workplace [...]
Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) permits a state to apply for a State Innovation Waiver to pursue innovative strategies for providing their residents with access to high quality, affordable health insurance while retaining the basic protections of the ACA. Recently several states have applied for waivers and have been approved. Among these is the State of [...]
This article was published on September 27, 2018 on Employee Benefit News, written by Nelson Griswold. More than six years ago, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini proclaimed that “the end of insurance companies, the way we’ve run the business in the past, is here.” At the very least, it’s the beginning of the end for these [...]
This article was published on August 7, 2018 on Employee Benefit News, written by Corte Larossi. We all know that making changes to your health plan can have major consequences for your company. It can impact your medical costs and company bottom line, the health and welfare of your employees, employee satisfaction and performance, as [...]
This article was published on July 18, 2018 on Employee Benefit News, written by Cort Olsen. Photo Source: Employee Benefit News. The number of million-dollar medical claims has nearly doubled, with cancer care remaining the most costly health condition, according to a new Sun Life Financial report. Cancer made up $798.7 million in reimbursements to [...]
This article was published on July 17, 2018 on Employee Benefit News, written by John Kern. Photo Source: Employee Benefit News. In my 25 years in the insurance business I’ve seen many changes. But there’s always been one constant: Healthcare and pharmacy costs continue to accelerate and no regulatory action has been able to slow [...]
This article was published on February 05, 2018 on Employee Benefit News, written by Liisa Granfors-Hunt. If your medical plan is fully insured, switching to self-funding (and covering catastrophic claims) can be downright intimidating, even with stop-loss insurance. That’s why many employers are sticking a toe in the financial risk pool by self-funding one or [...]
The article below was published on September 13, 2017 by Employee Benefit News, written by Nick Otto. Photo source: benefitnews.com As healthcare costs continue to rise, more employers are looking at ways to target those costs. One step they are taking is looking at what health conditions are hitting their pocketbooks the hardest. [...]
