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Covering All the Bases Voluntary Products to Complement Your Core Package
Voluntary benefits have proven to be important offerings that address each of the three objectives. Selecting the right benefits, communicating them properly and administering them efficiently is the Gemini advantage. |
mployers must be prepared to cover multiple bases in 2006, according to Workforce
Management Magazine. This includes everything from reining in healthcare costs
to designing compensation and rewards programs, to dealing with compliance issues,
to competing in a global marketplace, to implementing sophisticated human resources
technology. However, some trends will be more influential in 2006 than others.
For example, as healthcare costs continue to rise far beyond the rate of inflation, consumer-directed health (CDH) plans are taking off as a way to reduce costs. “The reason [for the cost increase] is that people have not been spending their own money for healthcare,” says Joe Martingale, Watson Wyatt national healthcare strategy leader. “CDH is an attempt to solve the underlying problem of increasing costs by asking people to take more responsibility.”The HRinsider SM bulletin is brought to you each month courtesy of Gemini Group Inc., a UBA member. For more information, contact us at info@geminigrp.com Or
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Staying@Work Strategies
Employers Implement Practices to Lower Costs; Keep Employees Healthy, Productive
FOR ALMOST 70 YEARS, the foundation of the American healthcare system has been the employer-based model. However, in the past five years, the percentage of employers offering health insurance has dropped precipitously, even though some 90 percent of employees surveyed still rank health insurance as the most important benefit, according to The Principal Financial Group’s Well-Being Index.
Nonetheless, employers that are aggressively implementing health and productivity
practices are seeing lower costs, reduced lost time, and improved worker health,
according to the 2005/2006 Staying@ Work survey by Watson Wyatt and the National
Business Group on Health (NBGH). “Employers recognize that a healthy and productive workforce directly impacts their bottom line,” says Shelly Wolff, Watson Wyatt national director of health and productivity. With many different factors affecting their employees’ health and productivity, the survey found that more employers are implementing a variety of practices designed to help workers remain healthy and productive, such as employee assistance programs, return-to-work programs, health promotion programs, health risk appraisals, work and family balance, paid-time-off banks, and personal health coaches/advocates.
The study also found a large gap in employer efforts to hold workers accountable for their health and productivity. “Employers that work most closely with employees to encourage healthy behaviors will ultimately be most successful at closing this gap,” says Helen Darling, NBGH president. Wolff notes that “without data and metrics, organizations cannot gauge the effectiveness of their health and productivity strategies and practices.”
Some Relief in Sight
Employers Tackle Rx Drug Coverage
Although prescription drug costs are expected to increase in the double digits in 2006, the rate of growth (11.8%) will be lower than the medical trend for the first time in the past four years, according to Aon’s latest Health Care Trend Survey. Bill Sharon, Aon senior vice president, attributes the slowdown to a potent battle that employers are waging against ballooning healthcare expenses. “Employers are at the end of their rope and are being more aggressive in tackling this issue,” says Sharon.
The survey cites several factors contributing to the lower trend: (1) employers implementing three-tiered copay plan designs; (2) more than $80 billion blockbuster drugs facing patent expiration by 2008, thus making them available via generics or over the counter; (3) employers using consumer-driven health plans and similar strategies to encourage employees to be more savvy consumers of Rx drugs; (4) increasing co-pays for or excluding lifestyle drugs; (5) using mail order to purchase medications for chronic conditions, and (6) employers putting the squeeze on pharmacy benefit managers. Nevertheless, pharmacy costs are expected to remain the fastest-growing component of health benefits spend this year, according to Employee Benefit News. The challenge for employers and PBMs will be to squeeze additional savings out of already carefully designed plans.
USERRA Final Regulations Take Effect January 18, 2006To protect themselves, employers must ensure that their health and retirement plans and leave policies are revised to comply with the final regulations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). According to Fisher & Phillips, a labor and employment law firm, for purposes of determining benefits under a health or retirement plan, a reemployed service member must be treated as though the employee had remained continuously employed during the military leave. In addition, employers should review all forms, policies and procedures, and ensure that third party administrators are aware of their potential legal obligations. The DOL also issued a final (and revised) version of the USERRA Notice that informs employees of their rights, benefits, and obligations under USERRA. For a copy of the Notice, see: http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/USERRA_Private.pdf.
CMS to Receive Disclosure of Creditable Coverage Info by March 31Employers have until March 31, 2006 to file a disclosure of creditable coverage information form to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The form MUST BE filed electronically. The form requires the employer to provide an estimate of the number of Part D eligible individuals covered as of the first day of the plan year. The employer must also state the latest date on which it provided the required disclosure of creditable coverage to Part D eligible individuals. The form is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/ccdisclosure/default.asp.
Mental Health Parity Act Gets Extension until Dec. 31, 2006The Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) states that group health plans providing mental health benefits may not impose annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits that are lower than those for medical and surgical benefits. While the MHPA has been extended until Dec. 31, 2006, employers with 50 or fewer employees are exempt, as are health plans whose costs would be increased more than 1% by complying with MHPA.
Do you have part-time or non-eligible employees not covered on your group health plan? Gemini Group, Inc. can help!
Recent changes to Colorado insurance law have made it easier to get these workers health insurance coverage. Gemini Group, Inc. can show you how to best use these changes to your advantage.
Benefits at no cost to the employer- Under the new guidelines, a company can now help workers obtain affordable individual health insurance coverage at no cost to the employer.
Helps eliminate COBRA problems- An employer can now help terminated employees obtain an option to COBRA that usually will cost less and move them off the group plan.
Cover dependants no longer eligible for a group health plan- When a dependant graduates or reaches an age where they are no longer eligible for a group plan, an employer can help by contacting Gemini Group, Inc. to get them covered on an individual health plan. It's easy to apply for individual health coverage at www.geminigrp.com
Call Gemini Group, Inc. at (303) 757-1234 to find out how our team of consultants can help find exciting new solutions to all your benefit needs.
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