Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Is Your Company CDH Ready?

Over the course of the last several years, Consumer Driven Health (CDH) has grown in popularity, and effectiveness, as a way for employers to reduce their health insurance and health care related costs. CDH’s evolution has not come easy or without its detractors. However, both the empirical and anecdotal data collected over the last ten years point to CDH as a proven and effective method of true – “health care reform”! According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), the number of employers offering CDH plans has jumped from 4% in 2005 to 31% in 2012. KFF also released data indicating the average cost of family coverage is $1,500 less per employee on a CDH plan than a traditional PPO plan.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

ACA Reset…Let’s All Take a Deep Breath!

This weeks post is meant to be sort of a deep breath; or reset on where we’re at with respect to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Clearly much is being said and written about the law, and in particular, its implementation. Those of us who are charged with explaining and implementing the various requirements of the law don’t have the luxury of questioning its content, complaining about its impact, or bemoaning its “unintended consequences”. Its full speed ahead with implementation and compliance, unless or until Congress, HHS, DOL, CMS, IRS, or someone in a position of authority tells us to STOP; and that is highly unlikely.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Self Funding Overview/Summary

As medical costs and insurance premiums continue to escalate, and health care reform poses new and additional cost pressures, employers are seeking innovative ways to reduce the costs associated with group insurance programs. The solution for many employers has been the implementation of some form of self-funding.
SELF-FUNDING ALLOWS THE EMPLOYER TO ASSUME ONLY AS MUCH RISK OR EXPOSURE AS THE COMPANY CAN WITHSTAND, WITHOUT CAUSING FINANCIAL DISTRESS.
Health insurance is comprised of two (2) separate and distinct components of exposure: predictable claims and unpredictable claims.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) – HSA’s 1st Cousin

Last weeks post provided an overview of Health Savings Accounts or HSAs. This weeks post is meant to provide an in depth understanding of the HSAs 1st cousin – the Health Reimbursement Arrangement or HRA.
In June of 2002 the IRS issued an important revenue ruling which created the HRA. The ruling created tremendous flexibility for the use of employer funded dollars set aside to pay for specific health care items. As this week's blog title suggests, HRAs are similar to HSAs, but are actually much more similar to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). However, HRAs have distinct advantages for both employer and employee, over FSAs and HSAs.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) ~ Summary/Overview

Last weeks blog post recognized (and celebrated!) the upcoming 10th birthday of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in 2014. Recognizing that some readers don't necessarily understand all the “ins and out;s” of HSAs, this weeks post offers an in depth overview, and addresses many of the key requirements, limitations, benefits, etc. Once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HSAs!
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax-favored savings account used to pay qualified medical expenses (See IRS Publication 502; click – http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf ), in conjunction with a QUALIFIED HIGH DEDUCTIBLE HEALTH PLAN. Some have described them as a “medical IRA”.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HSAs!

The attractiveness and establishment of HSAs continues to grow, as HSAs approach their 10th birthday. For many, it has long since been forgotten how they came to be, save for those “consumer driven health care geeks like yours truly. While many realize that HSAs or Health Savings Accounts, replaced MSAs (Medical Savings Accounts) starting in January of 2004, how they came to be is rather interesting, if not disjointed. Actually, HSAs were created by the very law that gave us the largest expansion of Medicare since its origin in 1965 – the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (later referred to as the MMA), signed by then President George W. Bush on December 8, 2003.

Monday, September 30, 2013

ACA Marketplace Notice Guidance and Employee Q & A

Back in May of this year (2013) the Department of Labor set a new deadline of OCTOBER 1, 2013 (originally March 1, 2013) for most employers to provide notices to their employees pertaining to the soon to be formed health insurance marketplaces. Since this deadline is rapidly approaching, this week’s blog post is dedicated to assisting readers and stakeholders with compliance with this requirement.
Technically, the DOL only required employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to provide the “marketplace notices”. But since the vast majority of employers are subject to FLSA,

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

10 Health Care Cost Reducing Strategies for Employers

Since the launch of this blog site earlier this year, the majority of posts have been focused on compliance issues. This week, I’m changing things up, and shifting the focus to strategies that can help employers and employees REDUCE the cost of their health insurance. These strategies are not merely theoretical, conceptual ideas, but rather, time tested and proven ways to reduce the cost of health insurance. And depending on the type of coverage you offer today, there may be no better time than NOW to consider making some changes!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Medicare Part D Disclosure Notices – DEADLINE LOOMING!

It seems as though the entire employee benefits/human resource universe has been transfixed on the upcoming, October 1 deadline for the ACA Marketplace Notice requirement (now deemed optional). In fact, this very blog site thoroughly addressed the Marketplace Notice requirement a mere two weeks ago, and provided guidance and compliance assistance! Meanwhile, another notice requirement, the 8th anniversary no less, looms…
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) created a voluntary prescription drug program, called Medicare Part D, for Medicare eligible individuals.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Medicare versus Obamacare versus Other Insurance…Know Your Options!

A recent news article (Waters, Jennifer. “Don’t Confuse Medicare with Obamacare.” Wall Street Journal 7 Sept. 2013) cautioned readers not to confuse the annual Medicare open enrollment period (aka open season) with the upcoming Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollment period. Since the two programs will have overlapping enrollment periods during the last quarter of the year, there is bound to be confusion, if not opportunistic hustlers looking to exploit unsuspecting enrollees. As Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicated in the article, We want to reassure Medicare beneficiaries that they are already covered, that their benefits aren’t changing and that the Marketplace doesn’t require them to do anything different. Specifically, they do not…