Florida Department of Health
The Florida Department of Health has received accolades from the Presidential Response Team during the daily briefing. Doctor Deborah Brix has mentioned several times it is an ideal resource and one that other states should try to emulate. Florida Health 201 Novel Coronavirus Response (COVID-19) https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/. The site includes the county-specific Surveillance Dashboard I mentioned […]
Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard
The link below provides some very insightful data regarding the spread of COVID-19. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/96dd742462124fa0b38ddedb9b25e429 The chart in the lower left is particularly interesting. Obviously, one would expect an increase in cases as the number of tests increase. However, note the trend of the decrease in the number of new cases. What does this mean? To […]
Employers of Choice – Furlough vs. Layoff
The COVID-19 relief packages have passed based on three fundamentals; (1) providing economic support to both businesses and individuals (2) keeping people employed, and (3) keeping people insured. Financing payroll may not be possible, after all it’s generally the largest expense. Companies may to need decide between a Layoff and Furlough. Layoff (noun) – temporary […]
Small & Midsize Employers – two new refundable payroll tax credits
IR-2020-57, March 20, 2020 The U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (Labor) announced that small and midsize employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees. This […]
COVID-19 and Medicare
Employee Benefit Advisors recommends communicating the following to you employees. Odds are your company has either employees on Medicare, family members on Medicare, or both. Copays for the Coronavirus test have been waived, but not the cost of the doctor visit needed to get the test or the treatment. Telehealth – CMS announced that it […]
Coronavirus – do the 5
I’ve been seeing this advice on Google the past few days. I think it’s simple and easy for employees t grasp. Pass it on. Help Stop Coronavirus 1. Hands – Wash them often 2. Elbow – Cough into it 3. Face – Don’t touch it 4. Feet – Stay more than 3ft apart 5. Feel […]
Coronavirus – easy to understand info for employees
Symptoms people may experience: 1. runny nose (Not to be confused with allergies) 2. sore throat 3. cough (develop the habit of coughing into your sleeve or handkerchief – never your hand!) 4. fever 5. tightening of chest / difficulty breathing (severe cases) What can you do? • Emergency Room – very expensive • Urgent […]
2020 EMPLOYEE BENEFITS UPDATE
As we head into a new year, there will be some noticeable changes in employee benefits that you and your clients should be made aware of. The following list encompasses a few of the items you may expect to change: Required Reporting Effective January 1, 2020, Medicare Secondary Payer reporting will now include prescription drug […]
Silver-loading
Silver-loading refers to health insurers loading premium increases on the popular silver-level exchange plans to make up for the loss of Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments. Loading premium surcharges onto silver plans boosted the size of the premium tax credits available to people with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty level. – The Trump […]
Telemedicine – Impact your health care costs
Group health insurance premium are expected to rise 15-18% in 2019 and Telemedicine can be an important cost containment tool, for both employer and employee. In a study of 17,000 telemedicine participants, hospital admissions dropped by 30% and doctor visits were reduced by 60%, for a savings of 45% in unnecessary doctor and emergency room […]