Healthcare

Cadillac (n.) best of its kind; standard of excellence

By December 2nd, 2015   Compliance - ACA & Other, Healthcare, Human Resources

What else would you expect big government to call a 40% tax that is expected to hit 25% of employees in 2018 and 42% by 2028? The last major piece of Obamacare will impact consumers, corporations and union members.

The Impact? Middle-class workers could see a reduction in benefits. Companies in areas with high medical costs are more likely to be subjected to the Cadillac tax than those in lower-cost areas. Same for employers with unionized workers. Under scrutiny to be cut from the benefit package are the FSA, HSA and HRA accounts which provide tax-free dollars for out-of-pocket health costs. The law counts those contributions toward the thresholds for triggering the tax.

The Cadillac tax is 40 percent of the value of employer-sponsored plans that exceeds $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The tax is levied on insurers and plan administrators, who are expected to pass it back to employers. The 40 percent rate is well above the income tax rates for most workers. If they don’t know it already, employees will learn, Obamacare came with Obamaco$t.

 

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits. We are a broker helping companies with their Health & Welfare Benefits. We also help companies revaluate PEO Services, deciding if a PEO is a good choice and if so selecting and implementing the PEO.

The Future of Vision

By October 21st, 2015   Healthcare, Healthcare Services, Wellness

6 eye care and eye wear innovations that will alter your view of vision benefits

    1. Accu-Fit Technology – reads the shape of your eyes and automatically recommends the best prescription
    2. Glasses.com – takes a 3D image of your face and allows you to look at up to four pairs of frames from every angle
    3. Onsite or pop-up clinics – setting up a store right in your office/plant, offering onsite exams; promotes both the importance of regular eye exams and your company’s wellness program
    4. “Healthy” wearable tech – your glasses will be your hub for your personal health and wellness providing you with your blood pressure blood sugar levels, etc… and automatically share the data with your doctor
    5. Smart Contacts – contact lenses that use tears to measure blood sugar levels for patients with diabetes (no more pricking your finger); for glaucoma patients lenses that measure intraocular pressure sending an alert to your smartphone that it’s time to administer eye drops
    6. Online Exams – emerging technology that allows for a refraction (used to determine the level of correction) to be tested online

Thank you Shauna Whittingham, Eyemed.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits. We are a broker helping companies with their Health & Welfare Benefits. We also help companies revaluate PEO Services, deciding if a PEO is a good choice and if so selecting and implementing the PEO.

Obamaco$t – What is hiding in the numbers.

By October 7th, 2015   Healthcare, Human Resources

Aetna’s Health Reform Weekly published a New Kaiser Family Foundation research found that single and family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2015 rose by an average of 4 percent, but the survey also found that workers’ out-of-pocket costs are rising at a much faster rate, with a 67 percent increase in deductibles since 2010. – The hidden cost of Obamacare. Ouch!

Obamacare – 5 Years Later

By June 17th, 2015   Healthcare

Conclusion: If we look at the three main points of Obamacare we see (1) although there has been an increase in the number of insureds, it was minimal;  (2) costs have increased (vs. the decrease we were promised); and (3) the ability to keep your doctor has not held true for many Americans.

A new Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report shows final enrollment in 2015 marketplace plans across the country stands at 10.2 million; 6.4 million Americans receive subsidies in the federally facilitated marketplaces. Weiss ratings looked at Obamacare 5 years after it was passed into law, here’s what they found.

Although the number of insured has increased, doctor visits have gone up as well as days spent in the hospital. Pro-Obamacare, the increase in usage makes sense since there are more people covered by insurance. Anti-Obamacare, more people overwhelm the healthcare system and make it more expensive for everyone.

In addition Weiss Reports, “Unfortunately, as we predicted some years ago, there are now fewer but larger health insurers, which has reduced competitive pressures. Additionally, the 15 percent of premiums allowed for expenses and profits offers no incentive to the insurers to keep health costs lower and perversely encourages them to increase spending. Consequently, Obamacare, ironically, has encouraged higher healthcare spending. However, once the challenge of medical expenses is addressed, we look forward to the day when healthcare is cheaper and more affordable.” (EBA says wishful thinking if you believe last point.)

Inevitably, if health expense issues, which were a major exclusion from Obamacare, are not addressed, prices will continue to rise. And that means costs (premiums) will get a lot worse before they get better.

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(EBA’s commentary – We were told 43-47 million were uninsured prior to the ACA and Obamacare would insure all but about 13 million. Now we hear 30 million will remain uninsured. End result, far short of expectations and not worth the expense.)

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Pre-Active Medicine – CompanionDx

By May 6th, 2015   Apps / Websites, Healthcare, Healthcare Services, Human Resources, Wellness

Anywhere between 40 and 75 percent of drugs are ineffective for individual patients. That means a large portion of patients may not only be wasting their money—but they may not be receiving the treatment or the results they seek.

Pre-Active medicine is a new diagnostic discipline that uses genetic insights to help prevent adverse drug reactions, misdiagnosis or other negative consequences of inadequate medical discovery.

CompanionDx™ is one of the only providers of both pharmacogenomics evaluations and cancer companion diagnostic testing. When used separately or in conjunction, these two types of tests are giving physicians the resources they need for more comprehensive patient treatment profiles—and that means more certainty when it comes to effective therapeutic decisions.

Tests include:
Pharmacogenomics testing
Cancer companion diagnostics testing
Colorectal cancer screening
NextGen Sequencing testing (in development)
 
You’ll receive easy-to-read test reports within 3-7 days.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Clean up your mouth!

By April 29th, 2015   Healthcare

 The following was posted on the wall when I visited my dentist recently. – Glad to report my teeth and gums are healthy.

Periodontal infection increases risk

Heart disease
Infectious endocarditis
Carotid artery stenosis
Stroke
Diabetes
Rheumatoid arthritis
Mouth and throat cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Colon cancer
Kidney infection lung infection/COPD		 Low fertility in men
Erectile dysfunction
Brain abscesses
Cognitive dysfunction/ Alzheimer’s
Infectious mononucleosis
Pre-term babies
Yeast infections
Multiple sclerosis
Osteoporosis

periodontal (adjective) of, denoting, or affecting the gums and other tissues surrounding the teeth: periodontal disease

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Your HSA Contributions May Trigger Cadillac Tax

By April 1st, 2015   Compliance - ACA & Other, Healthcare, Human Resources

The Cadillac Tax is coming in 2018. – All “premiums” over the designated amounts, currently set at $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage, will be taxed at 40%.

BUT, the IRS and DOL are currently counting employee contributions into their own HSA’s as “premiums”.

So, if you are being a responsible healthcare consumer, choosing a high deductible plan and putting dollars into an account in order to pay medical expenses, those dollars, if pre-taxed in an employer’s Section 125 Plan, will now count against you!

If the IRS does adopt rules requiring employers to include employees’ pretax HSA contributions in calculating plan costs, employers are likely to redesign their high-deductible plans, such as capping pretax contributions or allowing only after-tax contributions to reduce the likelihood of triggering the excise tax.

Thanks to Susan Luskin, FLMI, CLU, CEBS, RHU, ChHC, Diversified Administration Inc, www.Div125.com, for pointing this out.

Obamaco$t – OUCH!

By March 4th, 2015   Compliance - ACA & Other, Healthcare

The Congressional Budget Office reports Obamacare will cost $2 Trillion, $1.35 Trillion for everyone enrolled in Obamacare ($50,000 per person), premiums plus subsidies, and $643 Billion to pay for the expansion of Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Costs will be paid by the federal government (taxpayers) and $643 Billion in taxes, penalties and fees.

Was Obamacare the most cost efficient way to deliver healthcare? I hope you saw Steven Brill on 60 minutes Jan 11, 2015. Read his book America’s Bitter Pill.

Tower of Babel teaches valuable lesson

By February 18th, 2015   Compliance - ACA & Other, Healthcare, Human Resources

Gen 11:1-6 Now the whole world had one language…as one people speaking the same language…then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

PPACA requires group health plans to provide both a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), and a Glossary of Health Coverage and Medical Terms in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. When populations speaking Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog or Navajo reach 10 percent of the population in a county, federal regulations require translation.

‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ – Think of the possibilities.

Follow this link to review an updated list of counties where translation is required.  

Do unto others…Not unto me

By January 14th, 2015   Compliance - ACA & Other, Healthcare

Harvard’s professors are getting a taste of their medicine, and it’s not going down to well. Reports are that members of the faculty are a little “peeved” over health plan changes that will require them to share more of their health care costs. The enrollment guide states that it “must respond to the national trend of rising health care costs, including some driven by…the Affordable Care Act,” which many of the faculty “championed.”

The obvious irony: Professors are angry that the policies they’ve recommended for years are now being applied to them. The Harvard plan still pays about 91 percent of medical costs, on par with the richest plans available on the ACA exchanges.

In a Bloomberg op-ed, Megan McArdle looks at the “whining” professors, saying that “…Obamacare is the reason that these changes are probably necessary. This is what cost-control actually looks like” and recommends that Americans shed the delusion that there are no trade-offs.

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