The “consumerization” of healthcare continues with the advent of a relatively new concept – prepaid healthcare! A company called – MDsave – is making headlines with their prepaid voucher concept for healthcare, which strongly resembles travel sites like Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia, and Travelocity.
Since the arrival of high deductible health insurance plans (HDHP) coupled with tax preferred spending accounts (SA) on to the employee benefits scene nearly 22 years ago, a number of “best practices” have emerged to assist employers and brokers/consultants in deploying them. These types of plans, often referred to as “consumer driven health” plans…or CDH, have five (5) specific employer best practices I have developed for successful introduction/open enrollment of such plans.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has given the necessary approval of Cigna’s acquisition of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) – Express Scripts. The $52 billion deal will result in a consolidated healthcare behemoth that some say, is in reaction to recent healthcare sector entrant – Amazon. Another large scale healthcare acquisition/merger – CVS/Caremark and Aetna – is currently under DOJ review, but is expected to be approved soon, in a $69 billion transaction. The Cigna/Express Scripts transaction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.
Among the strategies being deployed by benefits brokers/consultants, on behalf of employers feeling squeezed by ever increasing health insurance costs is REFERENCE – BASED PRICING (RBP). Variances in the price of healthcare can be as much (or even more) as 500% for the same services…with little to no difference in quality. Don’t believe me? See forLEARN MORE
Last month (May, 2018) the IRS issued its anticipated 2019 calendar year, inflation adjusted figures affecting Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and the associated/required qualified High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). Changed figures for 2019 are indicated in red in the chart that follows; along with the current (2018) and prior (2017) year’s limits. 2017 2018LEARN MORE
If your organization offers, or is in the process of considering a Wellness Program…HOLD THE PHONE! There is pending litigation involving the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that could profoundly alter the regulatory and compliance requirements associated with certain Wellness Programs. Generally speaking, the rules and regulations affecting Wellness Programs, apply to those defined as “health contingent” and “outcome based”.
As the old saying goes – “the more things change…the more they remain the same”! A little more than a month ago, we shared the news that the IRS had reduced the previously announced, 2018 family Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution limit by $50 (from $6,900 to $6,850).See – https://smstevensandassociates.com/irs-updates-2018-hsa-family-contribution-amount/ This “middle of the game” changeLEARN MORE
Earlier this week (4/9/2018) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final regulations and guidance that profoundly alter the Affordable Care Act (ACA) both immediately, and in 2019 and beyond. The objective of the new guidance is “…to increase coverage access in the ACALEARN MORE
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law in late December, 2017, contained some great news for folks that incur significant medical expenses AND itemize deductions on their tax return. Historically, the threshold used to determine the amount of eligible/deductible expenses has been 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI), until an increase to 10%LEARN MORE
On March 5, 2018, the IRS issued a bulletin which contained, among other things, revised cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for 2018. The previously passed tax reform law (i.e., Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) created the need for the revised COLAs, which have a direct impact in the employee benefits world affecting Health Savings AccountsLEARN MORE
