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As we head into the second month of 2018, companies have already begun the arduous task of submitting budgets and finding ways to cut costs for the new year. One of the most effective ways to combat increasing health care costs for companies is to move to a Self-Funded insurance plan. By paying for claims out-of-pocket instead of paying […]
Archive for the ‘Health Plan Strategy’ Category
Top 7 Trends from 2017 UBA Health Plan Survey | California Benefit Advisors
We recently unveiled the latest findings from our 2017 Health Plan Survey. With data on 20,099 health plans sponsored by 11,221 employers, the UBA survey is nearly three times larger than the next two of the nation’s largest health plan benchmarking surveys combined. Here are the top trends at a glance. Cost-shifting, plan changes, and […]
Benchmarking Your Cost-Shifting Strategy | California Benefit Advisors
We recently shared healthcare cost benchmarking best practices and reported on the best and worst industries/states for group healthcare. But how much are you contributing toward healthcare costs vs. your employees? That’s a key benchmark, especially when “cost-shifting” is the main strategy for mitigating risk for employers. You may have the most affordable plan, but […]
Who Are You Benchmarking Your Health Plan Against? | California Benefit Advisors
Many employers benchmark their health plan against carrier provided national data. While that is a good place to start, regional cost averages vary, making it essential to benchmark both nationally and regionally—as well as state by state. For example, a significant difference exists between the cost to insure an employee in the Northeast versus the […]
Wellness Wearables: Novelty or an Impact to the Health Care Industry? | California Employee Benefits
It’s no secret in the wellness industry today that wellness wearables are in high demand as one of the most employer-offered program incentives. Wearables are not only being distributed at a large quantity by medical carriers, they are also being utilized by employers as an incentive to drive employee engagement on wellness platforms, challenges, and […]
UBA Survey: Grandmothering Protects Many Small Employers from Rate Increases | California Employee Benefits
One goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to develop uniformity in coverage to ensure that all medical coverage included certain services. However, two interim regulations were passed, essentially allowing individuals and employers to keep their plans that were not completely ACA-compliant. Those regulations were termed “grandfathering” and “grandmothering.” Grandfathering was available to all […]
Survey: Enrollment in Consumer-Directed Health Plans Jumps 22 Percent Despite Increase in Plan Costs | California Employee Benefits
Our 2016 Health Plan Survey results are in and as our preliminary findings indicated, while employer costs remained steady, employees continue to take on more cost for coverage. With PPO deductibles rising 50 percent, UBA finds that consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) continue to increase in popularity even though they are offering less savings than a […]
Prescription Drug Copay Trends | California Employee Benefits
UBA’s Special Report – Trends in Prescription Drug Benefits explores our Health Plan Survey findings in more detail, particularly examining what’s happening with prescription drug plan design among different group sizes, regions and industries. When it comes to copay amounts, median retail prescription drug copays are $10/$30 for two-tier plans, $10/$35/$55 for three-tier plans, and […]
9 reasons a good benefit broker is more crucial than ever | Johnson & Dugan
Many good employers want to provide a strong benefit package, and they want to do it in a way that complies with legal requirements. Yet, “even an employer trying hard to do everything right can still face severe penalties because it’s so complicated to understand what’s required,” says HR solutions firm Infinisource, adding that “this […]
Cost-Sharing Limits; Provider Discrimination FAQ Released | California Benefits Broker
By Danielle Capilla Chief Compliance Officer at United Benefit Advisors Recently, federal agencies, including the Department of Labor (DOL), issued a short five-question FAQ on two ACA-related issues: limitations on cost-sharing and provider discrimination. The FAQ further clarified that the self-only maximum annual limitation on cost sharing applies to each individual, regardless of whether the […]
