Tag: benefits

Employees Not Helped by Slow Health Premium Growth

Employers have been shifting more premium costs to workers and increasing their deductibles. That, in addition to the fact that price growth in the health sector outpaces growth for the rest of the economy,  has resulted in a disproportionate increase in employee out-of-pocket costs, a new Commonwealth Fund report says. Growth in health plan costs […]

Don’t Forget to Find Some Quiet Time This Year

You don’t spend nearly enough time simply thinking. Before you take offense to that statement, consider how much time you spend talking, responding to e-mail, even reading—my guess is that you spend more time doing any one of them than you do thinking.

Rules Attempt to Streamline ACA Benefits Summary

Proposed changes to the Summary of Benefits and Coverage rules under health care reform include additions and subtractions to the SBC template, as well as clarifications on how plan sponsors and insurers may apportion the responsibility to furnish the SBC to participants. A third example would be added to the cost-sharing examples required in the […]

9th Circuit Reverses Ruling on Participant’s Claim for Surcharge

Plan participants can recover personal, rather than plan, losses under arguments of “surcharge,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled, reversing an earlier opinion, which had been at odds with other federal circuits. On Dec. 16, the circuit court handed down the new ruling in Gabriel v. Alaska Elec. Pension Fund, 2014 WL 7139686 (9th […]

Quality Starts With People

The other day, I was driving through a small town and saw a sign on the side of a building that read, “Nobody ever regrets buying quality.” That got me thinking about quality. Did the proprietor of this business have it right? Does no one ever regret paying for a quality product or service?