A health savings account (HSA) covers your current and future medical expenses. It’s a smart investment since it provides 12 key benefits. You control the account. That means you decide all the details, including how much to contribute (there are limits), the bank that handles the account and how to spend the money. You also… Read more »
This question was recently asked of the ThinkHR Hotline team: What benefits must be continued while an employee is on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave? What should we do with an employee who is not making his share of the co-payments while out on leave? Their expert answer: Family and Medical Leave Act… Read more »
Federal regulations under the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) require insurance companies and health care providers to treat mental illness and addiction in the same way as physical ailments. That’s good news for everyone with health insurance. The ACA prohibits denying coverage or charging higher premiums to due pre-existing conditions, which include mental illness, while… Read more »
In their efforts to control health care costs, most businesses offer their employees wellness programs, which often use incentives to boost participation. A recent nationwide study done by benefits software and solutions provider Bswift, found that more than half of employers that had been surveyed, are overlooking crucial practices that could increase worker involvement in… Read more »
The Health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) give you the opportunity to shop for policies that provide such “essential benefits” as free preventive care. On the other hand, if your current plan was created before March 23, 2010, you might prefer keep it on a “grandfathered” basis. The choice will depend on… Read more »
Voluntary benefits have been gaining traction with employers and employees as valuable supplemental coverage to a core benefits package. For example, in today’s age of skyrocketing medical costs, programs such as Disability, Accident, and Critical Illness insurance are increasingly popular with workers concerned about paying for health care. Although these primary plans have been garnering… Read more »
The Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) is the percentage of premium that the insurance carrier spends on health care. Generally, the MLR is the amount spent on medical care (claims, clinical services and quality-improvement activities) divided by the amount of net premium (premium after subtracting certain license fees and taxes). Starting with 2011 policy years, carriers… Read more »
Businesses need to inform their workers about health plan changes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That’s the word from Paul S. Amos, II, president of Aflac, Inc., a major health insurance provider. Says Amos, “If you believe in your employees and want to retain them so can grow your company and corporate… Read more »
More and more employers are using Administrative Services Only (ASO) plans for such health benefit as Dental Insurance. Under an ASO, the employer self-insures the benefits it pays, but uses an outside firm (such as an insurance company or third-party administrator) to process claims and pay providers, based on a fee per person. This approach… Read more »
The self-employed tackle challenges that those employed by others rarely face: doing budgets, growing their business – and, of course, Health insurance. The cost of individual Health coverage has skyrocketed during the past decade, with average monthly premiums growing more than 500%. What’s more, co-pays and deductibles keep going up, while covered services are shrinking…. Read more »
