The key to increasing employers’ return on health care benefit spend is helping employees be as healthy as they can be, according to Tracy Watts, a partner and leader for U.S. health care reform at Mercer. This means helping employees get into the right plan for them and utilizing their benefits properly. Research found low engagement levels with health benefit programs, and one problem it identifies is employees are often required to access multiple disparate systems to learn about and access their full range of health benefits. Many employees are unaware that preventive care is fully covered; so employers should utilize education and the right strategies to make sure employees know this. In addition, getting employees to participate in wellness programs can help both them and their employers save. Employers should look at what works and what doesn’t. As open enrollment season quickly approaches, this edition of PLANSPONSOR Weekend focuses on what employers need to know.
Research found low engagement levels with health benefit programs, and one problem it identifies is employees are often required to access multiple disparate systems to learn about and access their full range of health benefits.Read more >
Employees that do not get good primary care drive up employer health costs, so a former hospital administrator started a marketplace to help employers encourage primary care use.Read more >
The IRS has issued guidance allowing high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) with health savings accounts (HSAs) to cover specified medications and services used to treat chronic diseases prior to meeting the plan deductible.Read more >
Damian A. Myers, with Proskauer Rose LLP, says employers can inadvertently subject individual market insurance policies to ERISA if they have too much involvement in selecting which policies are purchased through an individual coverage HRA.Read more >
