Now that the Supreme Court has delivered its decision on health care reform, employers have less than 18 months to address the future of their employee health care benefits. There’s no shortage of information out there, but not all of it is reliable or relevant to you. As a...

The validation process has been completed for the annual UBA (United Benefit Advisers) Health Plan Survey.  The UBA Health Plan Survey is one of the premier health plan benchmarking tools in the industry.  This is the largest survey ever completed by UBA and provides the most detail of any...

The IRS has issued guidance regarding the Medicare tax increase that will go into effect next year.  Effective January 1, 2013, employers must withhold an additional Medicare tax of 0.9% from the wages of employees who earn $200,000 or more. According to the FAQ on the IRS website, employers...

According to a recent study published in The Lancet, lack of exercise has become a global pandemic, causing nearly a tenth of all deaths worldwide.  What is most alarming about the study is that lack of exercise is killing roughly the same number of humans as smoking.  The new...

The rules governing coverage of preventive services allow plans to use reasonable medical management to help define the nature of the covered service.  Plans will retain the flexibility to control costs and promote efficient delivery of care by, for example, continuing to charge cost-sharing for branded drugs if a...

Under the Affordable Care Act, many insurers are required to cover certain Preventive Care Services at no cost to the participant.  Even with media outlets running public service announcements on behalf of HealthCare.gov, so few participants of group health plans are aware of this benefit and/or how to exercise...

Since 2003, Gallup has asked Americans three times to gauge their views on obesity, cigarettes, and alcohol.  In Gallup’s most recent poll, most Americans (81%) say obesity is an “extremely” or “very serious” problem to society.  This represents a sharp increase from 56% when Gallup first asked Americans about...

Because the guidance provided by the regulatory agencies has been fairly general, employers continue to have questions about how to handle the medical loss ratio (MLR) checks. Below are answers to some common questions, based upon either the guidance issued by the regulatory agencies regarding MLRs or how similar...

In a recent opinion piece by Ross Buchmueller, CEO of Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE), Florida high-value homeowners should review their insurance options with great care over the next year with changes to the state program.  A thorough review of the current homeowner’s policy should go well beyond premium...

According to BusinessInsurance.com, insurers are tightening their underwriting standards to improve profitability with workers’ compensation policies.  Employers renewing their workers compensation policies likely will pay 5% – 10% more for guarantee-cost coverage as claims costs rise and insurers’ combined ratios deteriorate.  Loss-sensitive programs may see less of an impact....