Insurance

Smart strategies for surviving this fall’s open enrollment

06/07/2023

Open enrollment for health insurance benefits is an inevitable autumn ritual that can cause great stress for HR and for your employees. It usually comes at the busiest time of the year, when HR pros—along with everyone else—are tending to year-end deadlines. Smooth the process by planning now to implement these strategies.

Study finds increase in health insurance claims denials

06/05/2023

According to research by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, even when patients received care from in-network physicians pre-approved by their insurance companies, claims were denied 17% of the time on average in 2021.

No employer-paid health benefits? That’s a deal-breaker for half of Americans

05/30/2023

Nearly half of Americans—48%—would quit their jobs if their employer stopped offering health insurance benefits, according to a new survey by the Assurance brokerage firm.

New-to-the-job workers account for more workers’ comp claims

05/22/2023

An employee’s time spent in a particular role and their age were driving factors in the frequency of injuries that resulted in workers’ compensation claims and the cost of those claims. That’s according to a new study by The Traveler Companies, the nation’s largest workers’ comp insurer.

Passive or active? Decide early which open-enrollment strategy fits your organization this year

05/17/2023

As you begin planning for benefits open enrollment this fall, now is the time to address a basic question: Will you allow employees to passively enroll—simply continuing the benefits they chose for this year—or will you require them to proactively select their benefits for the 2024 plan year?

Proposed regs would strengthen HIPAA’s privacy provisions

05/02/2023

Proposed regulations issued April 17 by the Department of Health and Human Services would extend the scope of HIPAA’s privacy protections specifically to women who travel to other states to receive reproductive health-care services where those services are legal and would apply to almost all judicial or administrative proceedings related to this care.

3 questions to kick off open-enrollment season right now!

04/26/2023

Six months out, it’s time to start planning for HR’s biggest event of the year: open enrollment. Here are some best practices to ensure your open-enrollment period gets off to a productive start in late October or early November.

A Texas court ruling could affect your group health plan

04/20/2023

The Affordable Care Act requires group health plans to follow the recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force and cover certain preventive services cost-free. That’s why COVID shots are free. That’s also why childhood immunizations are cost-free. No longer, at least temporarily.

Start developing your open-enrollment communications plan now

04/19/2023

Experts say HR should begin making plans for open enrollment at least six months before employees make their benefits choices. If your 2024 open-enrollment period will start in November, that means your preparations must begin within weeks.

DOL fills in details about the end of the COVID emergencies

04/03/2023

Once the two pandemic-related emergencies—the national emergency and the public health emergency—end May 11, group health plans can quit providing some benefits free of charge. On July 10, the statutory deadlines for electing health benefits snap back to their pre-pandemic normal. But there’s more to it, and the Department of Labor has issued FAQs clarifying just what’s going to happen on May 11 and July 10.