Archive for the ‘Medical’ Category
Individual Health Care Policy Automated Quoting Now Available To Persons In Washington D.C.
BBCG now offers an automated health care policy quoting service for persons located in Washington D.C. via Assurant Health (Time Insurance). This service is also available to persons in Florida.
Click below to browse/price/apply. This service is FREE unless an application is actually submitted.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
Using A Section 125 HRA Plan to Fund Individual Medical Purchases in Lieu of a Group Plan
Has group insurance seen its best days? I had to ask myself that today. In 2016 medical underwriting of individual policies will no longer be allowed. There will no longer be uninsurables that get treated differently under group plans than they do under individual policies. Why would an employer continue to stay on the back of a bronco that has been trying to throw it off for 20 years?
If the employer thinks it has a financial incentive to keep the group plan in place, that is likely not true. Changes in the Internal Revenue Code effective in 2009 makes purchase of individual policies with pre-tax HRA salary reduction amounts, as well as pre-tax employer HRA contribution amounts, permissible. The HRA contributions become “defined” in that the employer can fix the amount, if any, per class of employee, often at a level less that group plan levels. How the employee uses it is entirely employee driven. The employer steps out of the equation for everything except the regulatory framework of a Section 125 HRA approach. Employees make their own product purchase and just file the required paperwork with the administrator.
This is an exciting new concept about which only a few really knowledgable consultants are assisting employers. Let BBCG show you how this might work for your workforce. Please click here to open a link to a preseentation from one of our strategic partners which is a nationally recognized leader in the implementation of this concept.
Please note that this concept is not carrier dependent. Employees can buy any healthplan they desire. However, for ease of transition BBCG can make available to the purchasing employees from one up to three individual plan carriers and assist with the purchase process. For very large employers considering this transition, BBCG would actually put enrollers on site to assist. Note that with 3 carriers, three basic plans, and dozens of variable alternatives within the plans the decision points can exceed 100 for an employee. Using lowest cost as the driver can often be very dangerous for some employees.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
New: Portuguese Language Service for Brazil and Olympic Travelers
IMG Global has provided BBCG with a Portuguese language translation of its Patriot Travel Medical brochure. We can now provide native language product information to Portuguese language speakers. We can also provide a live Portuguese speaker to discuss larger group purchases, etcetera. Click here to access Portuguese language brochure.
Rio de Janeiro will host the summer Olympics in 2016, the first time for any South American country. Although six years may seem like a long time to that date, the physical build-out to get Brazil ready will start much sooner. It is highly likely that there will be extensive Brazilian travel where the IMG Global Portuguese support can be key. Please refer any Brazilian related business to BBCG. The travel medical policy linked here is only one of the many offering we can show businesses headed that way or which might be using the U.S. as a staging area prior to the Olympics.
Any questions? Click here to send BBCG an email inquiry.
Access other IMG international product information which can be browsed, priced and for which applications can be made online by clicking the below icon.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
UnitedHealthOne (Golden Rule) To Change Individual Health Plan Instant Quote Function Aug. 30, 2010
As you may have noticed from experience using the existing Instant Quote function from UnitedHealthOne (i.e., Golden Rule Insurance), it has lacked some degree of user friendliness. Effective Monday, August 30, 2010, there will be an upgraded Instant Quote function via a new link. We will add the new code as soon as it is available to us.
Note: the existing link below will continue to function via a redirect to the new Instant Quote web pages until approximately September 1, 2010 at which time it will become a dead link.
For persons who prefer to do business with a long-established insurance carrier in the individual healthcare market, BBCG offers United Healthcare’s “UnitedHealthOne” (f/k/a Golden Rule) products. Various traditional, high deductible, point-of-service and HSA products are available. Please feel free to use this service to explore options that you feel might meet your needs.
Please click on the above Golden Rule icon to open the auto-quoting page. This is a free and non-binding service unless the user actually submits an application.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
Dropping Health Plan: Use Pre-Tax Dollars to Soften the Blow and Save Payroll Taxes
Click Above Icon To Browse and Price Products
Met with CIGNA individual health product reps today. One new item of value for small/medium employers. If an employer plans to drop an existing employer sponsored group health plan and feels a significant number of its employees will subsequently seek individual health coverage, BBCG can now set up a method whereby individual coverage is purchased with pre-tax dollars. Employer saves the payroll taxes on the dollars not expended as payroll per se. This can be a very significant number for a moderately sized employer. It also allows a “soft landing” for employees who are losing employer subsidized coverage by lessening the cost by the personal tax liability amount and by showing an on-going concern for the welfare of the workforce. Click here to email BBCG for more information.
Browsing and pricing products by clicking on the above icon is a free and non-binding process unless an application is actually submitted by the user.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
What Are the Implications of Loss of “Grandfathering” Under PPACA
BBCG has been asked to comment on “grandfathering” under the 2010 healthcare reform statute and the recent interim final rules issued by HHS. Please see our prior post for the interim final rules discussion (http://bocabenefits.com/blog/?p=840). Below are some thoughts.
If a healthplan loses its “grandfathered” status under PPACA, then participants in these plans will gain two additional new and substantial benefits (i.e., assuming they did not exist prior):
- Coverage of recommended prevention services with no cost sharing; and
- Patient protections such as guaranteed access to OB-GYNs and pediatricians
Clearly, adding no-cost access for preventative services has significant cost implications (e.g., no co-pay for primary care visits, etc., changes both the cost structure and the frequency of service assumptions). How that is passed along will be determined by the funding vehicle in place (i.e., fully insured, partially insured, self-funded, etc.). In the case of OB-GYN and PEDS, many plans already cover these as primary care (i.e., service dependent). Cost implications may be somewhat less for that requirement. Plans must independently evaluate what the requirements will cost. Also should be judicious in accepting “quick and dirty” carrier underwriter/rep estimates which might be biased in the carrier’s favor (e.g., a high estimate to lock a client company into grandfathering, and therefore that carrier, versus a lower estimate which would allow an employer to change carriers once grandfathering was relinquished).
The question for employers is the trade-off between the extra costs noted above and the incremental flexibililty to modify the plan and/or carrier. Loss of grandfathering may still be the most efficacious course of action for many employers.
The Affordable Care Act requires all health plans– including grandfathered health plans – to provide certain new protections for plan years on or after September 23, 2010. The reforms that apply include:
- No lifetime limits on coverage for all plans
- No rescissions of coverage when people get sick and have previously made an unintentional mistake on their application
- Extension of parents’ coverage to young adults under 26 years old
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
Interpretation of Interim Final Rules Issued by HHS on PPACA Grandfathering
HHS issued rules on what actions would trigger a loss of “grandfathering” status under PPACA Monday, June 14, 2010. Those rules become effective today Thursday, June 17, 2010 concurrent with their publication in the Federal Register. Below is a summary of interpretation of the final interim rules as BBCG understands them. Many employers remain on the fence regarding the trade-off between plan changes flexibility and the accelerated PPACA requirements if “grandfathering” is reqlinquished. HHS esimates indicate that many employers will voluntarily give up “grandfathered” status in return for more control of their plans (versus the additional PPACA compliance requirements).
Changes that will result in loss of grandfathered status:
• Significant cut or reduction in benefits (e.g., elimination of benefits to cover care for a particular condition)
• Increase in co-insurance rates
• Significant increase in cost-sharing co-payment charges (defined as no more than the greater of $5 (indexed annually for medical inflation) or a percentage equal to medical inflation component of CPI plus 15%; estimated to be approximately 19% total currently)
• Significant increase in deductibles (exceeding medical inflation component of CPI plus 15%)
• Significant reduction in employer contributions (exceeding 5% of prior employer contribution)
• Tightening of an existing or adding a new annual dollar limit (unless replacing a lifetime
dollar limit with an annual dollar limit at least as high as the lifetime limit)
• Merger, acquisition or similar business restructuring – if principle purpose is to
cover new individuals under the grandfathered plan
• Switching carriers under an insured plan (unless the insured plan is covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Does not apply to changes in administrators (i.e., TPA’s) for “ASO” (i.e., self-insured Administrative Services Only type plans).
• Moving employees to a grandfathered plan with lesser benefits
Please email us if we can assist with your current brokerage requirements. Note that employers cannot change carrriers under insured plans (including partially self-insured, minimum premium, etc.) without triggering a loss of “grandfathered” status but that the additional PPACA compliance requirements may still be justified if pricing, service, and/or plan provisions under an existing carrier relationship are felt to be inadequate for your needs.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
PPACA Interim Final Regulations Issued Today June 14, 2010
HHS Releases Final Interim Guidance on “Grandfathering”
Today, the Departments of Health & Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued long-awaited interim final regulations that specify how “grandfathered” status will be defined and maintained. Regulators spelled out which actions or changes will (and will not) cause a plan to lose its “grandfathered” status.
These interim final regulations will still require analysis by carriers, consultants and employers relative to their implications and effect on employer-sponsored healthplan change decisions. We expect substantial industry opinions in the next day or so. HR and benefits professionals should keep a close eye on these developments.
Please contact us via email if you have questions about the interim final regulations. BBCG will be receiving guidance from carriers, and their attorneys, which may be valuable to you.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
PPACA Cautions for Employers from BBCG
Two items about which employers need to be aware as they make healthplan policy decisions:
1. It appears unlikely that the COBRA subsidy will be re-implemented retroactively. There is serious opposition on the part of budget-conscious Democrats in Congress to extend the subsidy, making its passage problematic. At least for the time being, those going into a COBRA status need to be charged the full amount. In the unlikely event that the subsidy is retroactively implemented, COBRA participants can be reimbursed.
2. It is critical that employers keep up to date on rules that are about to be promulgated relative to what changes are allowable relative to retaining the “grandfathered” status of their existing employer-sponsored plans. Plan changes that add cost or reduce benefits to employees may cause a plan to loose its “grandfathered” status thus making it required to immediately abide by all PPACA provisions (i.e., as opposed to the 2014 statutory date). Information on these rules will likely be public shortly.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]
Will Someone You Know or Employ Be Traveling Abroad — What Happens to Health Coverage?
Click On the Below Graphic for Auto-Browse/Purchase Service
Free and Non-Binding Unless User Actually Makes Application
Most people are not aware that the vast majority of health care coverage (i.e., health insurance policies, employee sponsored plans, Medicare, etc.) actually stops at the U.S. border. Many people are virtually “bare” (i.e., without insurance) during their stay overseas – although admittedly, most think otherwise. In some cases, there is minimal emergency or medevac coverage via a domestic plan. However, when substantial services are required immediately in a foreign country often the result is significant out-of-pocket costs. The suprise is often daunting to the traveler, family and/or friends.
There are many different categories of persons abroad, from the tourist, to the short-term business traveler, to the long-term expatriate. Within those categories there are often specialized needs for diffent groups depending on their length of stay and purpose abroad. For a broader discussion of the different sub-groups click here.
For an employer with personnel deployed abroad and promising extended health coverage, the cost of using a domestic employer sponsored health plan to pay the costs incurred in a foreign country rarely is the most cost-effective method of providing coverage for those individuals. [Note: for employers with 3 or more persons deployed abroad and 50 or more active employees in the U.S., BBCG has another portfolio of long-term and short-term international healthcare products provided by CIGNA International. We have found that those products may have more appeal to the corporate purchaser.]
For tourists, there is often a false sense of protection perceived in the typical travel insurance provided via their travel/tour operator. Rarely are the limits high enough to offset a major medical event. They are designed for emergency care with limits that rarely reach $50,000. An emergency heart by-pass procedure in Rome is going to cost a lot more than that!
IMG Global, as the managing general underwriter for Sirius International Insurance Group, has developed a uniquely high level of specialized expertise in meeting the needs of different types of travelers abroad. Please click on the graphic above for detailed information on international insurance designed for various travelers. You can also make application directly from that link for most products.
If you have additional questions, please click here for a direct email link to BBCG.
[Note: to share only this single post, click title of this post above prior to clicking on Share icon.]