Archive for the ‘Benefits’ Category
-
Insurers Limiting Choice of MDs to Save $
In an effort to drive down costs, and in anticipation of federal health plan reform coming down the pipeline, many insurers are starting to revisit a practice of the past – limiting the network (or panel) size of physicians from which an insurance plan’s participants can select from.
As detailed here:
“… companies may be able to reduce their premiums by as much as 15 percent, the insurers say, by offering the more limited plans. ‘What we’re seeing is a definite uptick in interest because, quite frankly, affordability is the most pressing agenda item,’ said Dr. Sam Ho, the chief medical officer for UnitedHealth’s health-care plans. Many insurers also expect the plans to be popular with individuals and small businesses who will purchase coverage in the insurance exchanges, or marketplaces that are mandated under the new health care law and scheduled to take effect in 2014. Tens of millions of everyday Americans will buy their coverage through those exchanges, a vast pool of new customers, including many of the previously uninsured, whom insurers expect will be willing to accept restrictions to get a better deal.”
-
New Federal Health Care Site – Now Online
Visit http://www.healthcare.gov/ to find a listing of all private and government health care plans for individuals and small businesses, organized by geographic area. Mandated by the nation’s new health care law, the site is meant to help consumers navigate the often confusing health care marketplace – increasing knowledge and transparency so as to better inform the populace. Initially it will offer basic information, but over time, will expand to include more detailed information – plan prices, benefits offered, the percent of claims denied, how often policies are canceled once a person gets sick, etc.
-
New Health Care Law a Boon for Women
Women stand to benefit greatly from the passage of the new federal health care law – no longer will they be denied coverage (e.g., pregnancy viewed as a preexisting condition) or be subject to higher premiums. Some changes don’t kick in until 2014, but in years to come, more and more women ought to be smiling when it comes to health care, as it’ll be much improved. Read more here.
-
Health Insurance Dependents Under Scrutiny
Company-sponsored health insurance enrollee beware – if you happen to be fudging the numbers as to who really is (isn’t) a dependent of yours (and thus eligible to be on your plan), you might want to think twice. More companies are starting to audit their employees, as this article notes: “An audit of a 10,000-person employer will typically uncover 200 to 500 ineligible dependents, said John Fazio, a senior consultant with the employee benefits firm Towers Watson. Removing these people, who cost a company an average of $2,100 a head, translates into annual savings of $420,000 to $1.05 million a year for the employer. Dependent audits have been around for a more than a decade. But they have become popular in the last few years, as employers desperately sought ways to trim their health care budgets. This year 69 percent of large companies plan to conduct a dependent audit, up from the 55 percent that planned to do so in 2008, according to a March survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit organization of large employers.”
-
How Will Insurance Be Made More Affordable?
Excerpted from the New York Times blog: Prescriptions: Making Sense of the Health Care Law, posted May 18.
Q: I have concerns about the costs of obtaining health insurance under the new law if you are in a position where there is just plain no more money to purchase health insurance.
In 2014, the new health insurance exchanges will start up, and that’s when individuals will be required to have health insurance. But the health care law contains a number of provisions that are intended to help make buying health insurance more affordable, according to Families USA, a consumer health care advocacy organization.
If your employer offers coverage but your share of the premium is more than 9.5 percent of your income, you will be able to go onto the health insurance exchange and buy subsidized coverage there. Likewise, if your employer’s plan covers less than 60 percent of the medical costs of the average plan member, you will also be eligible for subsidized coverage on the exchange.
Once you’re on the exchange, if your income is less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($43,320 for an individual in 2010), you could receive a subsidy to help pay your health insurance premiums. If your income is less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level, your cost-sharing — co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles — will also be limited. The law also caps the amount you have to spend annually out of pocket to the limits for out-of-pocket expenses for health savings accounts — $5,950 for individuals and $11,900 for families in 2010. The spending caps will be adjusted downward for people whose incomes are less than 400 percent of poverty.
Starting in 2014, there will be a phased-in penalty for people who don’t have health insurance. By 2016, the penalty will be $695 for an individual (or up to $2,085 for a family) or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. After 2016, those amounts will be adjusted every year based on the cost of living.
You can be excused from the requirement to have insurance based on financial hardship, among other things. In addition, if the lowest cost plan available in the exchange exceeds 8 percent of your income, or if your income is below the tax filing threshold, you won’t have to buy health insurance.
-
Mercer Survey on New Health Care Law
About one-third of employers subject to the recently-passed federal health care law may face tax penalties when it goes into effect. Why? They offer health insurance that might be considered “unaffordable” to some employees, according to a new Mercer study. As this article notes, “If a company offers coverage but requires any full-time employees to pay premiums that amount to more than 9.5 percent of their household income, the coverage is deemed unaffordable, and the employer may have to pay a penalty.”
-
IRS Posts New Details on Health Care Tax Credit
On May 17, 2010, the IRS released new information as to how employer-based tax credits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approved by Congress in March will work… click here and here (PDF) to read more. Additional information, including a step-by-step guide and answers to frequently asked questions, can be found on the IRS’s ACA page.
-
Medical Bills Worth Haggling Over
A little known and often overlooked fact: what you’re charged for a medical service rendered often is not what you in fact justifiably (even legally) owe. Under what’s referred to as “balanced billing” “doctors and other health care providers receive a discounted payment from the insurance company – an amount less than the fee they want to be paid – and then they bill the patient for the rest.” Often this practice is illegal, and there are ways to avoid overpaying.
As this article details, recommended steps include:
+ Staying in network for care; double check with providers you intend to visit make sure they are still active in the network – a majority of billing headaches happen when you receive out-of-network care.
+ Negotiate a price upfront if you go out-of-network; often providers are willing to work with you.
+ Negotiate after you get billed too – call your provider and discuss payment (amount, methods of, timelines, etc.).
+ If all else fails, you can file an appeal.
-
Making Sense of the New Health Care Bill
Finding it hard to digest the new health care bill? Well, so are we… sifting through the complexity of it all is not an easy task. The various links below, news stories highlighting key elements of the new law, may help bring some sanity to the process.
Washington Post, “Diagnosing How the Health Care Law Affects You”
New York Times, “Consumers’ Big Question: What’s in It for Me?”
USA Today, “The Good and Bad in Health Care Reform for Small Businesses”
-
New Retirement Survey Out
According to the 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey, produced by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and released March 9, almost one in four workers postponed plans to retire this year, citing various reasons, including: poor economy, change in employment status, inadequate finances and the need to make up for stock market losses.
Read an executive summary here. The full report can be downloaded here (PDF).
Categories
- Benefits
- Helpful Tips
- Human Resources
- In the News
- Our .02 Cents
- Payroll
- Products
- Safety
- Staff Profiles
- Taxes
PDR Calendar
Recent Posts
- 1 in 4 Lost Job During Recession
- Impt OSHA Policy re Worksite Safety Responsibility
- 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs
- Consumer Spending Behavior Changes Closer to Payday
- Switch Jobs, Take Paycut
Recent Comments
- College job services student technical - College student - Student jobs on Schumer/Graham Op-Ed on Immigration Reform
- Tweets that mention Digtal Age Engagement – Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose | Payday Resources Blog -- Topsy.com on Digtal Age Engagement – Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
- The autonomy of bishops, and suing the Vatican | Business Suit on Digtal Age Engagement – Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
- Tweets that mention Employee Engagement Survey | Payday Resources Blog -- Topsy.com on Employee Engagement Survey
- 10 Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards | Payday Resources Blog | OSHA & Hazwoper on 10 Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards