Insurance

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.

Consider coverage issues when employees must travel to receive abortion care

01/25/2023

If your organization operates in a state with a full or partial ban on abortion, it’s likely one or more of your employees seeking an abortion will have to travel out of state to receive care. Here is how to manage some of the complications employers face in the post-Dobbs era.

Weigh HR effect of declining birth rate

01/24/2023

Here’s a trend that could affect when, how and how many employees participate in your benefits program. Millennials—currently between 26 and 41 years old—are waiting longer and longer to have children.

Health costs grew 3.2% in ’22, will grow faster this year

01/17/2023

The average per-employee cost of employer-provided health benefits rose 3.2% in 2022, according to the Mercer consulting firm’s 2022 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, released in December. Brace for higher costs this year.

Spending bill promotes mental-health parity