By Terry Allard, CEBS, Sr. Benefits Advisor at The Wilson Agency Many employers look at employee benefits as a commodity, bidding out their plans annually — and who can blame them? Rising health care costs coupled with a challenging economic environment have forced many human resources decision-makers to focus heavily on cost. Organizations of […]
Posts Tagged ‘benefit consultants’
The Story Behind Minimal Changes in Plan Designs and Premium Rates | CA Benefits Broker
By Carol Taylor, Employee Benefit Advisor D&S Agency, a UBA Partner Firm The United Benefit Advisors (UBA) annual Health Plan Survey for 2014, which contains validated data on 16,467 plans for 9,950 employers, shows minor average change for plans in the last year. The survey contains information on plans that renewed predominantly between June 2013 […]
Determining If Dental and Vision Plans Are “Excepted Benefits” | California Employee Benefits
By Linda Rowings Chief Compliance Officer, UBA The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Department of Labor (DOL) released final regulations that explain when dental and vision plans and employee assistance plans (EAPs) will be considered “excepted benefits.” Excepted benefits are health benefits that are limited […]
Navigating Narrow or Focused Provider Networks (Part 2) | California Benefits Broker
By Elizabeth Kay Compliance and Retention Analyst AEIS, a UBA Partner Firm Health care reform has brought about many changes and growing pains. One of the changes we have seen recently in 2014 is the increased use of focused or ”narrow” provider networks. While these were implemented by the insurance carriers in the individual Marketplace […]