Health/Employee Benefits News

Nov. 30– Senior advocacy organization AARP receives $762.6 million a year– more than half its total revenue of $1.3 billion– from royalties on everything from health and car insurance deals to credit cards, records reviewed by The Palm Beach Post show. UnitedHealthcare's ads are a common sight on TV this time of year, and it bills itself as the only Medicare…

At one time or another, most of us are faced with the task of having to deal with health and life insurance. The reason for this is the same reason neither Medicare nor Medicaid cover medical marijuana: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any drug containing or derived from marijuana because it remains a federally illegal schedule I controlled…

The Critical Illness market resulted in new business premium of nearly $381 million in 2014 as Americans seek protection against costly health scares.

Consider this: In 2003, no state had an average deductible exceeding $1,000 for an individual policy, according to a 2015 report by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York foundation focused on health care policy issues. In Missouri, the increase was even more pronounced: The average deductible for an individual with employer-based coverage rose from $384 in 2003 to…

Nov. 26– Health insurance companies must refund $8.5 million to more than 162,000 North Carolina residents under a corporate profit cap instituted by the Affordable Care Act. The refunds, announced this week by the N.C. Department of Insurance, are part of the nearly $470 million in refunds issued to 5.5 million customers nationwide who were overcharged by…

The closure— part of a wave of failures of the new co-ops nationwide— has been a big hassle for Health Republic policyholders, who have had to shop around quickly for alternative coverage. They are legally obligated to continue treating Health Republic patients through the end of the month but have been given no assurances they will ever be paid for that care.

Of 38 individual and small group health Pennsylvania health care plans that existed last year and comply with AFA reforms, 30 were approved for a 2016 price hike by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. The biggest impact to consumers will likely come from increases by Highmark Inc., which owns the lion's share of the marketplace and gained an even larger…

An urgent goal of many businesses today is to lower their exposure to the fast-approaching 40% excise or“ Cadillac” tax, one of the Affordable Care Act’ s final provisions, effective in 2018. According to the National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, conducted annually by Mercer, total health benefits cost averaged $11,635 per employee in 2015.

A new carrier plans to enter the long-term care insurance market, with a policy slated to debut in the first quarter of 2016.

Nov. 22– Morris Black and Sons doesn't have a problem with the actual insurance part of the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate. Office manager Deb Levy estimates she'll have to spend about 40 to 60 hours filling out the Internal Revenue Service's 1095- C form for every person employed by the company over the course of the year. Businesses of this size…

With time running out on open enrollment season, many seniors are facing sharply higher premiums for Medicare’s popular prescription drug program. The reason: rising drug costs have overtaken a long stretch of stable premiums.

Nov. 21– Lisa Kiick swears she can still do the same things she was capable of just five years ago. She can go on those 5- mile runs, work a full day, cook a meal and have time to pay the bills after. Her husband, Ed Kiick, has seen that look plenty of times over the past five years.

“The governor and state cabinet officials, in consultation with Connector leadership, agreed that this transition was in the best interest of Hawaii residents because the state has already transitioned to the federal marketplace– healthcare.gov– for enrollment of individuals during this current open enrollment.” The Connector is a nonprofit organization…

–Aflac, the number one provider of voluntary insurance sales at the work site in the United States, today announced the launch of Aflac Business Solutions SM, a suite of value-added services that addresses the evolving and emerging needs of business owners and their employees. “For 60 years Aflac has promised our customers that we will be there when they need us…

The nation’s largest health insurer says its products in the ACA public exchanges are not performing well enough. An industry rep says UnitedHealth should have informed brokers of commission cuts prior to open enrollment.

The book details 2013 vs. 2014 enrollment data for Anthem and all other Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations, and includes 2014 sector breakdowns and state-by-state figures. And, if its purchase of Cigna Corp., which was announced in July 2015, is approved, Anthem is poised to surpass UnitedHealthcare as the nation's largest insurer; the extra boost from Cigna's…

Nov. 13– There were days when Mike Merkel's health insurance plan drove him to the edge of a breakdown. But he could pay $1,200 a month if he put his two children on Medi-Cal. After two years of letters, phone calls, doctors who fought on his family's behalf and frustration, Merkel said he's been able to sort through most of the issues with his Anthem Blue Shield policy,…

The Obama administration said more than 543,000 people signed up for coverage last week under the president’s health care law, as the 2016 enrollment season got underway.

UnitedHealthcare has introduced new Critical Illness Protection plans that provide a cash benefit for covered health events to help fund employees’ out-of-pocket expenses after a major illness, such as deductibles and copays, as well as helping cover lost income. Following the diagnosis of a covered health event, plan participants receive a lump sum…

Grandmothered is the term insurance agents and brokers have been using for pre-Obamacare policies that were allowed to continue in 2014 and this year even though they often do not meet the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements.