BY Nick Otto   In just a few short months, open enrollment begins and many employees may be looking to enhance their benefits. Knowing where states excel, alongside where they don’t, can help employers have the best plans in place to meet the needs of their workers. Personal finance website Wallethub has compared the 50 […]

BY Kathryn Mayer Forget onsite gyms, health coaching and pet-friendly offices. The most coveted employee benefits have to do with time away from the workplace. That’s the conclusion of a poll of 1,227 working adults from benefits provider Unum, which found that the most desired perks have to do with flexible work options and absence […]

BY Conner Insurance   Employers that provide prescription drug coverage to individuals who are eligible for Medicare Part D must inform these individuals and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) whether their prescription drug coverage is “creditable.” A group health plan’s prescription drug coverage is considered creditable if its actuarial value equals or […]

FROM Bloomberg News   CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. can go ahead with their about $68 billion deal, the Justice Department said, clearing the way for a merger that will create a health-care giant with a hand in insurance, prescription-drug benefits and drugstores across the United States. A previously planned sale of Aetna’s Medicare […]

BY Rob Piazza   Nearly 30 percent of employers in a recent National Business Group on Health survey ranked specialty pharmacy drugs as a top driver of health care costs. As more high-priced drugs enter the market, employers must keep a closer eye on it as part of an overall cost-savings strategy. For employers and brokers trying […]

BY Shari Rudavsky   Hospitals in central Indiana enjoy a higher profit margin than those elsewhere because they overcharge insurers, which results in employers and consumers paying more for care than they should, a recent study concludes. The study, published last month in the International Journal of Health Economics and Management, used a publicly available […]

BY Emily Payne   When the Kaiser Family Foundation started tracking employer health benefits 20 years ago, employee deductibles weren’t a concern. Over the years, though, the survey has adjusted to reflect not just the growing percentage of employees with a deductible (85 percent in 2018) but the growing amount of that deductible ($1,573 for an individual in […]

BY Marlene Satter   More than any other element in the cost of health care, the prices of prescription medications are soaring. And as companies try to contain benefits budgets in advance of this year’s open enrollment period and the need to choose which health plans to offer, they’re looking for ways to rein in prescription costs. Health care data analytics […]

BY Joe Thompson   No policy is too big, like a million-dollar home, or too small, like a renter, for me to handle. I take my time with each client to make sure I take their case and give it the attention it needs so they walk away with the best insurance coverage possible. From […]

BY Tony Wilcox   Working at an independent insurance firm gives me a tremendous amount of flexibility when it comes to my client’s needs. This, of course, is beneficial to both the client and the agency. One of the best examples of this was when I was able to help an investor who lives in […]