Archive for the ‘Communications’ Category
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.
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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.
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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.
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New: UnitedHealthOne Dental Products Auto-Quote Function
BBCG now has available a simplified auto-quote/purchase function for two excellent individual dental products from United Healthcare’s “UnitedHealthOne” family of companies. Just click on the below icon to begin the FREE quoting function. Should you choose to purchase, an application can be submitted via the same link. BBCG is offering this auto-quote/purchase function only in Florida at present. If you are outside of Florida, please give us a call. We are especially interested in developing business in Washington D.C. where BBCG also has a licensed agent.
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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
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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.
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Probability of Some Form of Disability During a Career Is 30%. Are You Properly Protected?
Many persons with significant incomes and personal/family cashflow requirements rely on insufficient means to protect themselves against the potential of loss of their greatest asset: their income earning capacity. Many who actually do have disability insurance (“DI”) are not quite sure how all the pieces work (i.e., the myriad policy definitions and provisions) and are not sure that they have optmized the coverage for their specific financial needs. BBCG can provide high quality professional assistance. Below are just a few statistics to justify the seriousness of not considering DI just as important as all other financial planning.
2008 Social Security “Quick Facts”
• 3 in 10: these are the chances of a young worker today becoming seriously
disabled before reaching retirement.
• 52: this is the average age of a disabled worker receiving SSDI benefits.
• 2.8 million: this is the number of disabled workers in their 20s, 30s and 40s
receiving SSDI benefits.
• 1.9 million: this is the number of disabled workers’ spouses and children
who also received SSDI payments in 2008.
• $1,064: this is the average monthly SSDI benefit for all disabled workers.
• More than 90%: this is the amount of disabled workers receiving SSDI who
do not qualify for workers’ compensation (i.e., non-occupational based causes of disability).
Disability Rate Increases More Rapidly For Women Than Men
Consider the cashflow needs of the two income family (i.e., the income protection of both spouses).
The overall rate of disability among women workers is growing much more rapidly than among men. The percentage of female workers receiving SSDI payments in 2009 (5.1%) was 55% higher than 10 years earlier (3.3% in 1998), while the number of male workers receiving SSDI grew by 37% during the same period, from 3.8% to 5.2%.
(Above Data Sources: “2010 CDA LONG-TERM DISABILITY CLAIMS REVIEW” of the Council for Disability Awareness)
DI Is Not A One Size Fits All Product
Your profession, individual financial situation and present/anticipated asset base are all considerations into which product provision must be factored. Insurance broker experts in DI are required more often than not for this type of assistance. The end result should be a customized product tailored for you and your family. We have DI specialists at the ready to work with you. Click here to email us for assistance in developing a DI approach for your specific needs.
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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.
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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.
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1st Murchadhian Strategic Consultancy Now on Facebook
1st MSC now has a page on Facebook. Click on the image below to become a “fan” of our new page. If you would like to become a Facebook Friend of Bob Murphy, click on name below.
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