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Small Employers Can Reimburse for Medicare Part B, D Premiums
As the workforce ages and many employers want to keep on baby-boomer staff who have the experience and institutional knowledge that is irreplaceable, one issue that always comes up is how to handle health insurance. Once your older workers reach the age of eligibility...
IRS Eases Access to Chronic Disease Treatment
New guidance from the IRS will help people enrolled in high-deductible health plans get coverage for pharmaceuticals to treat a number of chronic conditions. Under the guidance, medicinal coverage for patients with HDHPs that have certain chronic conditions – like...
Circuit Court Seems Poised to Shoot Down Individual Mandate
It’s looking more and more likely that a federal appeals court will strike down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which requires Americans to carry health insurance, either through coverage they receive from their employer or buying it themselves. The case...
Workers Getting Squeezed by Higher Health Plan Costs
While health insurance premiums aren’t going up as much as they used to, both employers and their workers are still struggling with higher health care costs. According to the “2018 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey,” published by the Employee Benefit...
New Rule Allows Employers to Pay Workers to Buy Their Own Health Coverage
The Trump administration has issued new rules that would allow employers to provide workers with funds in health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) that can be used to purchase health insurance on the individual market. The rule reverses a long-standing part of the...
New Cost-Sharing Limits Set for ACA-Compliant Plans
The Department of Health and Human Services has released the 2020 cost-sharing limits for non-grandfathered plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act. HHS is charged with setting the premium adjustment percentage, and it changed the formula for calculating...
The Costliest Claims for Catastrophic Conditions and the Drugs Used to Treat Them
A new report by Sun Life Insurance Co. highlights the top high-cost claim conditions that plague the U.S. health care system and account for more than half of all catastrophic or unpredictable claims costs. The top 10 costliest claim conditions comprised over half...
New Health Savings Account, HDHP limits for 2020
The IRS has announced new health savings account contribution maximums for the 2020 health insurance plan year. Employees who have an HSA linked to a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) will be able to contribute to their HSA up to a certain level to help pay for...
40 States Sue Generic Drug Makers for Collusion
The heat is growing on the pharmaceutical industry after more than 40 US states filed a lawsuit accusing generic drug makers of engaging in a massive price-fixing scheme. The lawsuit accuses 20 companies of conspiring to fix prices of more than 100 generic drugs,...
Congress, Administration Serious About Tackling Health Care Costs
As more people struggle with their medical bills, Congress has been introducing a raft of new legislation aimed at cutting costs and making pricing more transparent. The multi-pronged, bipartisan effort targets the lack of transparency in pricing particularly for...
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