Transformation in health care delivery, focus on high-dollar claims and drug costs, and continued movement to account-based plans are among the list for what employer health benefit providers and advocates see happening in 2019.
The first component of the initiative is a portal that will help employers focus on the metrics that are most impactful to their bottom line and provide a clear course of action to capitalize on incremental opportunities.
Recently, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has ordered the fiduciaries of health benefit plan to pay restitution of $145,635 to 596 employees who paid a tobacco use surcharge as part of their medical insurance premium.
Consumers that are already enrolled in HSAs are more fluent, more engaged, and make savvier health and financial decisions than the general public, Alegeus finds.
Selecting the "wrong plan" may cause employees to pay more without getting more coverage or benefits in return,” HSA Bank says, and Chad Wilkins, president of HSA Bank, points out it could cost employers as well.
Also being considered is legislation for expanding benefits of HSAs.
A team of experts will review claim data and provide actionable insight into an employer's health care spend, with the objective of helping employers identify and realize cost saving opportunities.
Dave Chase, co-founder of Health Rosetta, says three questions address three big problems in health care: pricing failure, overtreatment and a crazy amount of administrative burden.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has increased the affordability percentage for 2019 to 9.86%, up from 9.56% in 2018, the law firm Haynes and Boone announced.
In addition to seamless claims reimbursement, the new offering gives mutual clients convenient reporting, improved clinical and risk management, and the opportunity to share favorable results via a pooled experience.
The guide for small and mid-sized employers is based on research that found what would promote employees’ participation in health wellness programs and barriers to employers offering and employees participating in them.
Some companies already employ the theories of behavioral economics in various strategies that push their workers to make healthier decisions, says the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
For example, 73% of companies have added telemedicine services, 79% offer access to a 24-hour nurse line and 60% use health advocacy programs.
In 2017, small business employees used an average of 78% of their QSEHRA allowance, and 52% used 100% of their allowance.
The decrease in self-insured plan enrollment is due to a decrease in self-insurance for large employers.
Fifty-six percent of employers say their programs incite a healthier lifestyle among participants, but only 32% of employees concurred, surveys from Willis Towers Watson found.
The bill would permit high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to provide chronic disease prevention and treatment—which some say is critical to reducing health care costs—prior to participants having met their deductible.
The effective date of the excise tax on high-cost health plans is now in 2022.