In general, over 70% of salaried employees and less than 50% of hourly employees can work from home and effectively perform their jobs. The ability to effectively work from home also varies by industry as finance, insurance and professional services are more adaptable than retail and manufacturing.
Read moreAmerica’s Health Insurance Plans is the latest organization to cancel events due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Surprise medical billing is a source of anger and frustration to consumers. Now, two House committees are releasing their proposals to protect consumers from the practice.
Creating an effective benefits communication and enrollment strategy isn’t something you toss together a few weeks before the annual enrollment begins. It takes knowledge of employee behavior as well as your clients’ company demographics and culture, plus time to map out key steps. That’s why it’s a good idea to start now to ensure your fall enrollments deliver optimal results.
Individuals who thought they could “self-insure” the risk of long-term care during these uncertain times may be reconsidering their decision. What would happen if a client had an incident today and needed to liquidate assets to pay for care when their portfolio is down 20%-30%?
Hospitals, state governments and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are left bidding against each other and driving up prices. “It’ s pretty much every state for itself,” said Virginia's secretary of finance, Aubrey Layne, who is deeply involved with his state’ s effort to buy medical supplies. Doctors and nurses in hot spots like New York and New Orleans are…
Or has President Trump redeemed himself for what some have called a slow and ineffective response to COVID-19? Our President Trump continues to do a great job for the citizens. President Trump has done a fantastic job in response to COVID-19!
House Democrats who are not in the nation's capital have been advised to return quickly to Washington, D.C., in case an in-person vote is needed Friday to pass the coronavirus relief bill. House leadership is planning to approve the $2.2 trillion package on a voice vote, since it has broad bipartisan support and passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday.
The death toll in the United States from the coronavirus has topped 1,000 as the outbreak appears to be deepening across the country. According to a live tracker of multiple medical and government sources by Johns Hopkins University, the death toll reached 1,041 late Wednesday after the United States experienced more than 200 deaths– its deadliest day yet.
Some carriers have proactively announced mitigation measures for policyholders, including Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Geico which as of 2017 was the largest auto insurance underwriter in Connecticut. Mais acted a week after his counterpart in California, with Georgia, West Virginia and Wisconsin among the states that have taken similar steps.
A federal judge in Hartford has delivered a sweeping health care victory to senior citizens by giving hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries a right to challenge denial of benefit decisions that for years have left elderly patients struggling under crushing medical bills. Shea said the lack of a challenge mechanism was a violation of patient due…
“To mark the anniversary, North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Goodwin recommitted to building on the law's successes and holding Republicans accountable for trying to tear it down,” Howard said. “Despite the law unquestionably helping so many Tar Heel families, Republicans like Sen. North Carolinians' health care is not safe until Democrats take back the…
Mar. 24– A “Consumer Protection” investigation from Florida attorney general Ashley Moody's office is looking into misleading statements from Norwegian Cruise Line to potential customers about the coronavirus. Leaked emails with management-suggested lies to help employees close sales as COVID-19's harmed cruise bookings were first reported by Miami…
Collective Health today introduced its COVID-19 Risk Assessment for anyone concerned about coronavirus exposure or looking for guidance. This new feature is a part of the Collective Health COVID-19 Online Resource, and a number of other measures the company has implemented for the health and safety of the Collective Health community and in an effort to…
Congresswoman Susan Wild and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey have introduced a bill that would require a special health insurance enrollment period any time there is a public health emergency declaration like the the coronavirus outbreak.
Why a health savings account is the ideal tool to help individuals pay for health care and provide financial wellness support in times of uncertainty.
The deal for China Oceanwide to acquire Genworth for $5.43 a share was announced in October 2016, and Genworth shareholders approved the acquisition in March 2017. “Genworth and Oceanwide remain committed to the transaction and continue to work towards closing as soon as possible,” Genworth announced Monday. Genworth said it is submitting supplemental…
Monday marks the 10-year-anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, which has provided medical insurance to more than 20 million people and may play a crucial role for those needing hospitalization during the coronavirus crisis.
Aflac Incorporated announced today that its insurance subsidiaries American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac of Columbus) and American…
Mar. 22– The pot of invested money used to pay for hundreds of thousands of California public employee pensions has shrunk by $69 billion as coronavirus has squeezed global markets. The California Public Employees' Retirement System's fund balance stood about $335 billion Thursday, down from a record high of $404 billion one month ago, according to CalPERS…
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) today announced it has issued guidance to insurers that they should suspend pre-authorization and…
Trade associations from across the entire health care spectrum came together with one voice in a letter to Vice President…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that all elective surgeries, non-essential medical, surgical, and dental procedures be…
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify coverage for the diagnosis…
—A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that two-thirds of Americans say they're at least somewhat concerned they or a loved one will be infected by the coronavirus— up from less than half who said so a month ago. Among other finding in the survey, conducted March 12-16 among American adults:. —Worries about the…
Mar. 19– Oklahoma faced a critical shortage of coronavirus testing agents on Wednesday as cases continued to mount, including the first child four years or younger and the first nursing home resident. The state had the ability to test fewer than 100 people by Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma epidemiologist Laurence Burnsed said, and the state has not been told when…
Clients may have some confusion about the COVID-19 virus. Health insurance brokers can help break through that confusion and be a trusted source of information.
Mar. 17– TALLAHASSEE– Florida's ability to respond to the coronavirus crisis received a significant boost from federal healthcare regulators this week when the Trump administration approved a waiver that will allow the state to sign up and pay doctors and hospitals through Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income people.
New York regulators adopted a new emergency regulation requiring New York State insurance companies to waive cost-sharing, including, deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance for in-network telehealth visits.
All of the existing devices used to diagnose COVID-19 cases, including Roche's system heralded by President Donald Trump on Friday and a second one from Thermo-Fisher Scientific, are laboratory-based systems that require central analyzers located in major hospitals and labs. “Usually, you'd be able to detect it pretty close to when symptoms appear, for most…
Henrico County- based insurance giant Genworth Financial Inc. said Monday that documents has been submitted to insurance regulators in New York to get a reapproval of the company's long-delayed acquisition by a China- based company. China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. submitted the supplemental materials to the New York Department of Financial…
In late January, a story in The Bee/USC Center for Health Journalism Collaborative highlighted Aliera was facing legal troubles in multiple states and was ordered to stop taking new clients, but in California, its subsidiary was continuing to take new costumers. The Department of Insurance may impose a fine of up to $5,000 for each day the order is violated,…
Health care costs keep rising and consumers aren’t the only ones feeling the financial pain. Employers also are seeing their expenses rise, and are beginning to question those expenses.
Priority for testing would go to medical professionals and senior citizens with viral symptoms, officials said, in an effort to avoid“ paralyzing” the U.S. health system. The retooled plan came two days after President Donald Trump previewed a nationwide network of drive-thru testing sites at chains like WalMart and Target linked by a Google- designed website.
If your doctor wants to prescribe an extremely expensive drug, expect your insurer to look hard first at whether it works before agreeing to pay. Health insurers are hunting for more ways to tame rising costs. Matt Eyles, CEO of the trade association America’ s Health Insurance Plans, spoke recently with The Associated Press about these challenges and other…
Mar. 12– Washington health care officials say they hope President Trump declares a novel coronavirus emergency in the state soon, because that could clear the way for more people to be enrolled in Medicaid quickly. The status also could potentially allow Washington to extend Medicaid income thresholds to cover more people, she added. Trump has yet to do that for…
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service advised that high-deductible health plans can pay for COVID-19-related testing and treatment, without jeopardizing…
About three minutes into the speech, Trump said: “I met with the leaders of health insurance industry, who have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments.” A health insurance lobbying group later clarified that the president was partially correct.
Nearly half of all Americans say they are worried about meeting healthcare costs incurred because of the expanding new coronavirus outbreak, a new survey has found. “I think some of the fear consumers expressed is because they don't know what's covered and they have high deductibles,” Jeff Smedsrud, co-founder of Healthcare.com, told UPI. The questionnaires…
With the virus hitting the 60-and-over population hard, your role is to be an informed and an intelligent advisor for this group. Medicare is communicating with them on a regular basis about COVID-19. In the past three days, Medicare sent its beneficiaries two emails.
“I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of health care being available now,” Biden, the Democratic presidential front-runner, said in an interview that aired Monday evening on MSNBC. Biden went on to say that health care should be a “right” in the United States.
Kudos to Mayor de Blasio and the City Council for writing paid sick leave into law here back in 2014. Enforcement has been spotty, but at least New York City requires employees with five or more workers to offer up to 40 hours of this baseline benefit. Democrats have their own ideas, some of which overlap with his.
Mar. 11– Four people, including two doctors, were charged Tuesday with operating a pill-mill scheme by stealing the Medicaid information of homeless people and veterans living in three Tioga rowhouses and writing fake prescriptions in their names, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. Emmanuel Okolo, 53, of Ambler, and Mohanad…
–Ameritas announces the launch of a new glide-path strategy for employer-sponsored retirement plans called RetireExpress SM. “This is just another way Ameritas is putting the plan participants and their decisions first.” In addition to RetireExpress SM, the Ameritas retirement plans division recently launched a new plan sponsor website; an enhanced…
Nearly 2 in 3 adults saying they have a goal to age in place (65%), while only 1 in 3 think they realistically will (33%).
Anthem, Harvard Pilgrim and Aetna– who collectively represent the majority of residents covered under large group plans, defined as plans with 101 or more employees– will waive all cost-sharing measures like copays and deductibles associated with testing. Anthem and Harvard Pilgrim also make up the majority of the small-group plan market, while MaineCare,…
Mar. 9– GRAND RAPIDS– During a series of stops around Michigan ahead of the Tuesday, March 10, Democratic Presidential Primary, former Vice President Joe Biden stopped in Grand Rapids on Monday to tout his plans for health care if elected president. Biden, speaking at the Cherry Health Heart of the City Community Health Center to an intimate crowd of media and Cherry…
America’s Health Insurance Plans is the latest organization to cancel events due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Now, the Kansas Senate majority leader is an expansion champion who's under fire from some GOP lawmakers he's supposed to be leading for working with the state's Democratic governor. Some GOP lawmakers worry that he's undercutting their strategy of holding Medicaid expansion hostage to pressure fellow lawmakers into moving forward with their top…
It applies as well to governmental programs and there's no better example than Medi-Cal, California's program of health care for the poor. An addendum to the landmark federal legislation creating Medicare coverage for the elderly 55 years ago offered federal subsidies to states for caring for the poor– dubbed Medicaid in most states, but Medi-Cal in…
“Qualified default investment alternatives, through the increased adoption of” autos “and TDFs, have steadily evolved with the Pension Protection Act, but core menu design has remained relatively unchanged leaving behind a subset of participants who don't believe investing solely in a single TDF is right for them,” said John Galateria, Managing Director and…
Chris Sununu said New Hampshire will join 17 other states in defending the Affordable Care Act as a case that is aimed at repealing the law goes before the U.S. Supreme Court. While he does not believe the law known as“ Obamacare” has cut health care costs, Sununu told WMUR-TV that repealing the law without an“ adequate replacement” would be harmful to New Hampshire…
NEPC, LLC one of the industry’ s largest independent, research-driven investment consulting firms, today announced the results of their 2019 Defined Contribution Plan and Fee Survey. For those plans with more than $1 bn in assets, 24 percent offer participants custom target date funds tailored to participant characteristics, likely as a strategy to better…
If your parents live in Connecticut, you live in Pennsylvania and your brothers and sisters live in California and New York, chances are you may have had “the conversation” discussing with your parents where they might live if one of them needs long term care. If you are nearing retirement and you open an attractive brochure advertising a senior community with…
Americans see employers as having a dual role to play in addressing risks associated with the virus, both in protecting their health and well-being and as trusted providers of information about the disease and resources to help manage its impact.
Mar. 3– Pennsylvania fined Independence Health Group $165,000 for the “improper and inconsistent” handling of claims and coverage for autism, mental-health, and substance-abuse disorders, the state's Insurance Department said Monday. Last November, the department fined insurance giant United Healthcare $1 million for denial of, or sometimes failure to pay,…
The court will hear the case in its new term, which begins in October. This means that the Affordable Care Act will continue for at least another year.
10,000 baby boomers age into Medicare health coverage every day, classifying this segment of the health insurance market as the most explosive. Major carriers are expanding their offerings to capture market share, resulting in an estimated 32% increase in the number of Medicare Advantage plan choices over the past year. Within these same markets however, 20…
Mar. 1– The five skilled nursing facilities in Skagit County are among those struggling to survive as the state's Medicaid reimbursements fail to keep up with the rising costs of doing business. “It's impossible for us to stay afloat at the current funding,” said Serge Newberry, owner of Mira Vista Care Center in Mount Vernon. Both Democrats and Republicans from…
Maryland hospitals sued their patients over unpaid bills more than 145,700 times in the 10 years that ended in 2018, leading to wage garnishments, liens and bankruptcies, according to a new report from a coalition of consumer groups and unions. The report’ s authors include the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, the AFL-CIO and National Nurses United.
Feb. 28– Philadelphia will be among the first cities to try a new program designed to reduce ambulance costs for Medicare, and, as a result, some patients might find themselves driven to urgent care centers rather than hospitals. Under the new program, ambulances could get paid for taking Medicare patients to lower-intensity– and lower-cost– facilities, such as…
BenefitScape, a leader in ACA compliance reporting and e-filing solutions, is an authorized e-filer to the state of New Jersey in connection with new legislation called the New Jersey Health Insurance Market Preservation Act. This legislation requires that every New Jersey resident must either obtain health insurance, have a valid exemption, or pay a…
As the debate over surprise medical bills intensifies, Action for Health announced today its formation. The organization will be addressing new legislative proposals in Congress to solve surprise medical bills that are attempting to fix the price for a doctor’ s treatment. Unfortunately, some lawmakers in Washington want to solve this issue by setting…
