May 5, 2021
American health care is in a crisis today. By most measures, we are getting a relatively average product even though we spend some of the most money in the world on it. Given that about half of Americans receive their health insurance coverage from the workplace and that costs are doubling every 10 years¹ for …
April 7, 2021
Much has been made of the potential for price transparency tools in health care to solve the high costs of health care that affect Americans. Washington and state legislatures have demonstrated a belief in the potential of these tools and the industry expects many ripple effects from the price transparency rule that became effective the …
March 11, 2021
The $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law this week. The bill is enormous and includes funding and provisions for many facets of the U.S. economy. Specifically, this post will cover the key provisions that support …
March 1, 2021
Today, we’re sharing with you five employee benefits trends for employers in 2021! The general theme for employee benefits in 2021 is the increasing interplay between technology and data. This interplay impacts everything in healthcare and employee benefits, such as utilization, spending, behavioral health, and beyond. Telehealth With the disruption caused by the COVID …
February 1, 2021
The Biden Administration has made healthcare a key pillar of it’s first 100 days in office. On January 28th, the president announced an Executive Order with significant impacts on health care so we wanted to put together a quick summary with what you need to know. Specifically, groups with association health plans will want to …
January 14, 2021
In a time with so much instability, uncertainty, and economic duress, some good news comes out of Washington D.C. for small businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program is a government response to the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round provided critically needed funds to companies to stay afloat, meet payroll, and survive …
October 16, 2020
Stop-loss insurance is a key part of the self-funded group’s risk management program. While self-funding health benefits has its advantages, these plans do carry greater financial risk than purchasing traditional, fully-insured health plans from major carriers. It’s important to understand both how stop-loss insurance works and how much it costs. Costs for Groups with Self-Funded …
October 14, 2020
Small employers across the country consider self-funded health insurance as a way to provide affordable health benefits for their employees. Statistically, a large or mid-sized group is more likely to self-fund their medical benefits than a small employer because of the financial risks involved. This makes sense given that one large claim could represent a …
October 9, 2020
With the United States spending nearly 18% of it’s GDP on health care, which works out to $3.6 trillion or $11,172 per person, pressure for reducing costs is growing. U.S. health care spending grew 4.6% in 2018. If that continues, our system will eventually be forced to change. To make change today, many organizations are …
October 6, 2020
Most large employers self-fund their health insurance and medical benefits rather than using traditional health insurance. This gives them opportunity for savings but does expose them to large and catastrophic claims. While an employer can realize the benefits from exercising more control over their healthcare savings, they could find themselves in the red due to …
