Clicky
Health/Employee Benefits
Health/Employee Benefits RSS Get our newsletter

Colonial Life Report Encourages Bigger View Of Employee Benefits

Health/Employee Benefits No comments.

Employers can create more competitive and cost-effective benefits programs by taking a broader view and avoiding the distractions of health care reform legislation, according to a new white paper released today by Colonial Life. “Health insurance is a major employer expense, but a competitive employee benefits plan includes far more than that,” says Steve…

Read more

A sustainable approach for brokers navigating the emergence of technology in group health insurance.

Consumers want health care cost transparency when making insurance decisions.

Our state Senate wants to change an entire system, while risking incredible job loss, disruption, loss of choice and terrible confusion for senior citizens.

Latest Exclusives >

And then sign up for coverage, get the surgery and then drop it, “said Katie Allen, executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage. But Senate Republicans didn’t include the surcharge in their legislation because the provision conflicts with the Senate’s ” Byrd Rule,” a parliamentary rule that governs what can be included in a budget…

Among those insurers, six plan to sell coverage on the ACA exchange at healthcare.gov, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported, including Florida Blue, Celtic Insurance, Florida Health Care Plan, Health First Commercial Plans, Health Options and Molina Healthcare. Florida regulators must finish reviewing insurer rate filings by August 16, after…

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation issued the following news release:. Ahead of the June 21 federal deadline for insurers to submit rates for healthcare.gov, the Kaiser Family Foundation has released a new map that will track counties at risk of zero insurers offering plans in the 2018 marketplace. Compiled from a Foundation analysis of insurer filings and…

Molina Healthcare, Inc. today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Molina Healthcare of Mississippi, Inc., has been notified by the Mississippi Division of Medicaid of its intent to award a Medicaid Coordinated Care Contract for the statewide administration of the Mississippi Coordinated Access Network. “We are pleased to have been selected to…

June 21– Oscar Health will return to New Jersey’s Obamacare market next year, the insurer said Tuesday in a sign that the Garden State’s health insurance market has stabilized. “The market in New Jersey is stable and growing,” said Mario Schlosser, Oscar’s chief executive officer and founder. New York- based Oscar sold policies in New Jersey in 2015 and 2016,…

Minnesota- based Medica says the increase is necessary to remain in Iowa. Medica will re-evaluate the decision in September before contracts to provide coverage in Iowa are signed. Iowa is seeking a waiver that would allow it to repurpose federal subsidies to attract younger, healthier individuals into the market.

June 19– More than a year after federal regulators sanctioned Cigna Corporation for endangering the health of its members, the health insurance company, which does business in South Florida as Leon Medical Centers Health Plans, will resume marketing and enrolling new members in its Medicare Advantage and Part D plans beginning July 1. Benjamin Leon, chairman…

June 19– Illinois’ largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, is taking steps to return to the Obamacare exchange next year despite uncertainty over the fate of the health care law. Colleen Miller, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross, confirmed Monday the insurer is submitting rates and plans for next year. This year, Blue Cross is the only insurer…

June 20– Health-insurance rates in Washington’s individual market would increase an average of 22 percent next year based on filings under review by state officials– sparking a new round of partisan finger-pointing. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, a Democrat, called out Republicans in Washington, D.C. for sowing uncertainty in the…

—Democrats plan to slow the Senate’s work, force votes and make late-night speeches in an effort to focus attention on how Republicans are crafting legislation revamping the nation’s health care system behind closed doors, a senior Democratic aide said Monday. Republicans have held no committee meetings or votes on the measure, which McConnell is trying to…

AXA, a leader in providing financial security and retirement products, announced today that it is now offering its competitive Long-Term Care Services SM Rider 1 to its Guaranteed Issue Program, giving employers a way to offer the long-term care coverage their key executives want and need. AXA’ s Guaranteed Issue Program streamlines the process for obtaining…

–Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, recently released the results of its 2016 U.S. Group Disability Market Survey, a comprehensive report that analyzes the employer- and employee-paid short- and long-term disability market, including insurance products, sales, and in-force business. “Besides giving an overview of the current trends…

About 16 percent of consumers who signed up for coverage this year through public health insurance markets had canceled their plans by early spring, the government said.

Washington— Senate Republican leaders are aiming to bring a major revision to the nation’ s health-care laws to the Senate floor by the end of June even as lingering disagreements, particularly over Medicaid, threaten to derail their efforts, several Republicans familiar with the effort said on Thursday. President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader…

The report from the Office of the Actuary, a nonpartisan economic unit at the Health and Human Services Department, was released earlier this week with little fanfare. “It’s fascinating,” said Chris Sloan, a policy expert with the Avalere Health consulting firm. Individually-purchased coverage is also key to the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which would roll…

If the federal government does not clarify by mid-August whether it will continue an important health insurance subsidy for consumers next year, California’s state-run exchange will instruct its insurers to sell plans with significantly higher premiums to cover the loss of the money. The subsidies are to help people whose annual income is between 139…

The California Department of Insurance issued the following news release:. Carlos Maria Vallarta Fausto, 55, of Rancho Palos Verdes, surrendered last week after he was charged with two felony counts of insurance fraud for allegedly charging insurers more than $31,000 in fraudulent billings for services provided in his Los Angeles area dental practice.

June 14– Some health insurers in Michigan will be seeking record-level rate hikes next year for plans they sell to individuals– potentially as much as 31%– as debate continues to swirl in Washington over overhauling the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. Either way, Blue Cross has never before sought rate increases of this magnitude for its individual plans,…

June 14– Maryland Insurance Administration on Wednesday approved plans for Evergreen Health to be acquired by investors and convert to a for-profit insurance company. Approval from the insurance administration clears the way for Evergreen to finalize a deal with investors LifeBridge Health, Anne Arundel Health System and JARS Health Investments, a group…

—Less than six weeks after he helped revive a flagging House Republican health care bill and push it to passage, President Donald Trump now says the measure is “mean” and is asking GOP senators to make it more generous. Facing expected unanimous Democratic opposition, Republicans will be unable to pass a Senate bill if just three of the 52 GOP senators vote “no.

June 13– The future of the Affordable Care Act may be uncertain, but Florida’s largest health insurer, Florida Blue, announced this week that the company intends to stay in the individual market and sell coverage in all 67 counties next year. But the insurer will raise premiums about 20 percent on average if those subsidies are discontinued, said Penny Shaffer,…

He would sometimes have to keep patients involuntarily “because they were not safe to be discharged, knowing at the same time that at the end of their admission, they were going to get socked with a huge bill,” Davis said during a panel discussion held Monday at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. They would come out “saddled with this albatross of debt and bankruptcy,” said…

The news in Ohio came on the heels of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City pulling out of Missouri exchanges, leaving 25 counties and 67,000 people in the northwest corner of the state without an insurer. Health experts had been predicting these kinds of effects, given the general uncertainty over how, or whether, Congress will act on the landmark legislation.

—The Trump administration says nearly 2 million people have dropped their health insurance through the Obama-era law after sign-up season ended Jan. 31. As of March 15, about 10.3 million were signed up and paying their premiums, according to figures released Monday by the Health and Human Services Department. The Trump administration says the dropout rate is…

—Iowa’s insurance commissioner is proposing a plan he thinks could keep Iowa from becoming the first state to lose all of the health insurance carriers offering policies on the Affordable Care Act exchange next year. Doug Ommen says he traveled to Washington last week with officials from two major Iowa insurance carriers to pitch a proposal to federal…

A prominent Blue Cross- Blue Shield insurer is aiming to return to the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges next year in several states, including big markets like Texas and Illinois. Health Care Service Corp. says it also intends to sell coverage in Oklahoma, where it is the only insurer on the exchange, as well as in New Mexico and Montana.

President Trump’s health secretary refused to say Thursday whether his boss is committed to making disputed Obamacare-subsidy payments through the coming year, unnerving Democrats and leaving insurance companies to struggle with decisions about whether to remain part of the troubled health exchanges. The biggest question is whether Mr. Trump will make…

The move announced Tuesday by Anthem Inc. could leave shoppers in 20 counties without an option for buying individual coverage on the exchange unless another insurer steps in, according to data compiled by The Associated Press and the consulting firm Avalere. Another insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, said late last month that it also was…

Senate Republicans are under pressure to pass a health care reform bill soon.
Senate Republicans are under pressure to pass a health care reform bill soon.

Senate Republicans received a broad outline of their still-evolving legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, as time dwindles and pressure mounts from the White House to put the contentious measure to a vote before the summer recess.

–Drug prices in the U.S. are rising at a rate that’s outpacing inflation. So, what’s the driving force behind the recent drug price hikes? Personal finance news and features website GOBankingRates uncovered the reasons for increasing costs within the prescription drug industry.

Republicans are running way behind schedule. By early June, Republicans were supposed to be in the thick of overhauling the tax code. Here’s the reality: The GOP health care debate is stalled in Congress, and its uncertainty has clogged up the legislative pipeline to Trump’s desk.

Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled a new plan Monday which he argued would safeguard Affordable Care Act health care provisions in New York state in the event of a full repeal. The governor is directing the state Department of Financial Services to ensure health insurance providers do not discriminate based on gender or pre-existing conditions and to continue to offer…

Is the lump sum plan a loser in the long run? A new survey finds recipients agreeing that their future would be more secure if they had taken an annuity option with their nest egg.
Is the lump sum plan a loser in the long run? A new survey finds recipients agreeing that their future would be more secure if they had taken an annuity option with their nest egg.

Fifty-two percent of lump sum recipients say their budget would be more predictable if they’d chosen annuity payments from an employer pension or defined contribution plan, a new survey finds.

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News– ASCO Perspective. “We know from previous research that lack of insurance typically results in diagnosis of cancer at a later, and usually less treatable, stage,” said lead study author Xuesong Han, PhD, Strategic Director, Health Policy and Healthcare Delivery Research, American Cancer Society.

June 02– SACRAMENTO– As a legislative deadline loomed, California senators Thursday– in some cases, reluctantly– voted to pass a $400 billion plan to create a government-run health care system without a way to pay for it. The California Nurses Association, the bill’s lead sponsor, has pushed the proposal hard, organizing demonstrations at the California…

June 02– A Minnesota health plan finds itself as potentially the sole survivor in insurance markets in Iowa and Nebraska– a precarious position that highlights the uncertain fate of the federal health law. Following exits by competitors, Minnetonka- based Medica is the only insurer now selling statewide coverage to individuals in Iowa and Nebraska that might…

June 02– Minneapolis- based Bright Health said Thursday it has raised $160 million to fund expansion plans that include selling health plans to seniors who get their Medicare benefits through private insurers. Bob Sheehy, former UnitedHealthcare chief executive, launched Bright Health in 2016, and the insurer currently is providing coverage to more than…

—Connecticut officials are again re-examining how they can dissuade companies like General Electric and now possibly insurance giant Aetna from relocating to places considered more innovative. “Our inactivity, our unwillingness to come up with an overall goal for our urban centers in the state of Connecticut is yet again costing us dearly,” said Democratic…

June 01– A Florida health insurance company and its former chief operating officer will pay $32.5 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit that alleged the insurer defrauded the federal government for years by falsifying claims to make its members appear sicker than they really were in order to extract bigger payments from Medicare.

A new Benefitfocus analysis finds employees eagerly snapping up voluntary benefits.
A new Benefitfocus analysis finds employees eagerly snapping up voluntary benefits.

Voluntary benefit participation rates rose by 567 percent in the Midwest, more than twice the rise in any other region. Employers and employees both like voluntary benefits.

But John Boyd, whose Princeton, New Jersey, company consults with some of the nation’s leading companies on corporate relocations, and Connecticut- based economist Donald Klepper-Smith agree on one thing: Convincing a company to do business in Connecticut is a really tough sell right now. “Companies are looking to move their headquarters right now to places…

The moratorium, which was included in a large spending bill for health and human services, amounts to a compromise struck at the end of the legislative session after Republicans and DFLers couldn’t agree on how to write a new law that would govern such transactions. For 40 years, Minnesota required HMOs to be nonprofit, but a new law passed in January opened the…

May 31– Connecticut residents will have a chance to weigh in on proposed double-digit health insurance rate increases and insurers are expected to defend their requests, the state Insurance Department announced Tuesday. Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade notified Anthem Health Plans and ConnectiCare Benefits Inc. that their health rate requests…

House Speaker Paul Ryan discusses the American Health Care Act.
House Speaker Paul Ryan discusses the American Health Care Act.

Senate Republicans have a plan to avoid answering questions on the House legislation to repeal large portions of the 2010 health law: to say it’s not their bill.

May 26– Tom Watjen on Thursday recalled his early days as Unum CEO in 2003 when the insurer faced capital, regulatory and rating agency challenges amid charges it wasn’t paying valid claims. However, out of that thorny time for the Chattanooga- based company, Unum “kind of reinvented ourselves,” said Watjen in an interview after taking part in his last annual meeting…

Then CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, Bowser also was chairman of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, representing 39 plans nationally. As such, he made monthly trips to Washington to provide insurance company input during crafting of the Affordable Care Act. Bowser, who spoke with The Star from where he now lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., said he…

—North Carolina’s largest health insurer said Thursday it wants to increase the average price for heavily subsidized policies created by former President Barack Obama’s overhaul law by 22.9 percent next year, a double-digit increase it blames mostly on Congress. If the Republican-led Congress fully funded the so-called “cost sharing reductions,” the…

At the annual meeting of shareholders today, Unum CEO Richard P. McKenney addressed the company’ s strong performance, industry leadership, and the growing need for the financial protection Unum provides. In 2016, Unum earned record revenues of nearly $11.1 billion and paid approximately $6.9 billion in benefits. “Our mission now is to build on our company’ s…

The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the American Health Care Act.
The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the American Health Care Act.

The health care bill Republicans recently pushed through the House would leave 23 million more Americans without insurance and confront others who have costly medical conditions with coverage that could prove unaffordable, Congress’ official budget analysts said.

May 24– Facing multiple counts of insurance fraud, a defiant Philip Ganong on Wednesday denied wrongdoing in the operation of companies he said were set up to help people fighting addiction. Ganong, his wife, Pamela, son William, and three others, including two doctors, have been charged in Orange County in what prosecutors said was a $22 million urine test billing…