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Trends Shaping Health Insurance and Health Care in 2020
As a new decade begins, the health insurance industry is on the cusp of making a leap towards improved, higher-tech management of health plan participants. A recent paper by Capgemini, an insurance technology and consulting firm, predicts the following trends that...
Congress Eliminates the ‘Cadillac’ and Other ACA Taxes
Congress before the new year passed legislation repealing the so-called “Cadillac tax” on generous group health plans, as well as two other taxes, finally putting to bed an issue that has plagued the Affordable Care Act since its inception. Although it had not yet...
High-Deductible Plans Saddling Workers with Bigger Drug Outlays
A new study has found that high-deductible plans and increased use of coinsurance are exposing health plan enrollees to higher and higher pharmaceutical costs. One of the big problems for many enrollees in high-deductible plans is that their outlays for drugs may not...
Average Family Plan Cost Hits $20,000 for First Time; What Can You Do to Cut Costs?
A new study has found that the average annual premium for a group family health plan has exceeded $20,000 for the first time in 2019, up 5% from 2018. The average premium for single coverage plans in 2019 is $7,188, up 4% from the year prior, according to the Kaiser...
Telemedicine Taking Off, Reducing Health Costs
One of the fastest growing parts of the health care system, and which touches significantly on group health plans, is telemedicine. From 2016 to 2017, insurance claims for services rendered via telehealth ― as a percentage of all medical claim lines ― grew 53%...
Court Rules ACA Individual Mandate Unconstitutional
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision that the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because the penalty was set to zero in 2017. However, the fate of the entire law is still in play after the...
New Rules Allow Employers to Reimburse for Health Premiums
Starting Jan. 1, 2020, employers can establish accounts for their employees to help them pay for individual health insurance policies they purchase, as well as for other health care expenses. A new regulation expands on how health reimbursement accounts can be used....
You Don’t Need To Be Walmart To Use COE’s
Spend 20 minutes to hear what Walmart was able to accomplish with their Center of Excellence Program, which has only grown since this 2018 presentation.
Happy New Year!
Wishing you a Happy New Year with the hope that you will have many blessings in the year to come! Happy New Year!
Study Attributes 25% of Health Spending to ‘Waste’
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that about 25% of all health care spending in the U.S. is attributable to waste in the system. The study, conducted by health insurer Humana and the University of Pittsburgh School of...
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