Feds release employee compensation breakdown
Private industry employers spent, on average, $29.63 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Wages and salaries averaged $20.76 per hour worked and accounted for 70.1% of that cost, while benefits averaged $8.87 and accounted for the remaining 29.9%.
Private industry employers paid, on average, $2.45 per hour worked for insurance benefits, including life, health and disability insurance, accounting for 8.3% of total compensation. In addition to insurance, the other benefit categories were supplemental pay(overtime and premium, shift differentials and nonproduction bonuses), which averaged 85 cents per hour worked (2.9%) and retirement savings, which averaged $1.10 per hour (3.7%).
The Bureau’s Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers. ECEC news releases are published quarterly.
The average cost for legally required benefits, such as Social Security and Medicare, came to $2.43 per hour worked in the private industry, or 8.2% of total compensation in December 2013. Social Security comprises the largest legally required benefit cost component at $1.39 per hour, or 4.7% of total compensation, the Bureau said. Legally required benefits such as Social Security and Medicare are often directly linked to wages; therefore, higher paid occupations or industries will typically show higher cost estimates for this compensation component, the Bureau added.
Costs for other legally required benefits include workers’ compensation, which averaged 43 cents per hour worked (1.4% of total compensation); state unemployment insurance, which averaged 23 cents per hour worked (0.8%); and federal unemployment insurance, which averaged just 4 cents.
Private industryemployer costs for paid leave benefits averaged $2.05 per hour worked. Private
industry paid leave benefit costs were highest for management, professional and related occupations.
ECEC data on total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits in private industry are produced annually for 15 metropolitan areas. Metropolitan area data will be included in a news release set to be issued June 11.
Plan Now to Celebrate National Employee Benefits Day on April 2nd
Originally posted on https://www.ifebp.org/
According to the Employee Benefits Research Institute, almost nine in ten people don’t think they’ll have enough saved when they get to retirement. Study after study provides data pointing to the same conclusion: A crisis is coming. Are your plan participants prepared for it?
This year, the focus of National Employee Benefits Day is to increase awareness of the retirement crisis, and to help plan sponsors motivate participants to actively engage in their financial wellness.
To help make financial wellness more urgent for your participants, we have created a number of resources that will help cut through the clutter and provide simple tools to get them thinking about their future.
Get started with these helpful handouts that explain key terms for: Retirement Plans [PDF],Investments [PDF] and Credit [PDF].
Social Media, New Technology Drive Healthy Behaviors
Originally posted March 04, 2014 by Kathleen Koster on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Employers and wellness vendors can elevate worker engagement to new heights by reinforcing healthy behaviors through the seamless application of emerging technologies. From using big data to identify and manage at-risk employees to combining biometrics with the social health version of Facebook, EBN looks at three areas of new technology that can help spur wired employees toward well-being.
Virtual trainers and clinics
According to the National Institutes of Health, users who have a weight-loss coach are 214% more likely to lose weight than those without. However, for most employees hiring a personal trainer is not financially feasible. Yet the interest is there: 74% of American adults want, but cannot afford or accommodate, a “traditional” personal trainer, says David Joseph Aguayo, regional vice president of sales at Anthem National Accounts.
As an alternative, Anthem provides a trainer-centric approach to wellness that doesn’t break the bank. The health insurer partnered with online trainer FitOrbit to provide virtual fitness and real-time, Internet-based coaching. Members begin by answering short questionnaires covering their dietary needs, exercise habits and preferred coaching styles. Based on their individual responses, they are matched with a list of nationally certified personal trainers. After selecting a trainer, the employee electronically receives a customized fitness and nutrition plan and ongoing coaching – the latter via the modern miracle of unlimited texting, plus a weekly personal exercise plan – to support their goals.
In an independent 20-week study, active FitOrbit users consistently lost an average of 1.3 pounds per week. Over three years, the tech platform’s own data shows 0.83 pounds per week of weight loss across all users.
Anthem also delivers the robust benefits of onsite clinics to employers who could otherwise not afford them, using similar technology.
“For employers that want to provide easier access to care or have onsite clinics, but don’t have the financial resources to invest in a brick and mortar facility, online care is way to explore that,” says Aguayo.
Using a new Anthem app, employees can seek medical advice through a live video chat feature that was launched late in the fourth quarter of 2013. Thereby, the employer can drive primary care access for employees without the major cost burden. The white-glove concierge service for health, as Aguayo describes it, gives members access to qualified and very experienced care professionals who can help assuage health issues and prescribe medicine for primary care needs, such as headaches or fever. The best part is the app engages employees where and how they want to be engaged, using text, instant messaging or phone.
The app also helps to keep employees going over the long run, in programs and resources they would ordinarily not participate in. For example, if a member calls in with a question about their health, the customer service advocate uses that opportunity to connect them with a coach or nurse.
“We’re leveraging our technology and investing in our people and trying to engage and create a whole new health experience that’s just in time [for the consumer]," says Aguayo.
Instead of “dialing for dollars” outreach, which most vendors employ to reach as many people as possible, Anthem advocates let members know what’s available at the point in which they’re actually asking for it, when they call in for help on their own.
Aguayo points out that 27% of people Anthem is trying to outreach to and engage with will call customer service in next three to six months to ask a question. That’s a great opportunity to tell them about the resources, capabilities and incentives available.
“We look at every possible pathway to engage people,” says Aguayo, emphasizing the role that technology and, in particular, mobile outreach has in today’s workplace.
Target outreach with big data
Another wellness vendor, Healthstat, implements patient engagement and behavior modification outreach via its electronic health records system, Pro-change Behavior Systems. The behavior change technology and coaches can identify employees’ level of readiness to change their behavior as well as how to best engage them.
“It’s not enough to know their risk profile, you need to know where they’re at, mentally and emotionally, and their readiness to change,” says John Kaegi, chief corporate strategist of Healthstat, Inc.
The system derives information from e-clinical employee health records to channel employees toward healthy living by combining behavioral science and employees’ risk assessments.
On the provider side, the technology prompts the coaches or trained clinicians to ask their patient the right questions, based on the patient’s risk analysis and their readiness to change. They can also proactively reach out to clients before they visit the clinic.
“It’s a lot easier when you have all the information at hand...to change behaviors,” says Kaegi.
The health risk assessment survey includes questions on readiness to change along with their risk profile. Straightforward questions (and some indirect ones) help triangulate their information to gauge a patient’s consistency. The program also culls data from the employee’s biometric screening results so the coach knows their data, even if they fail to mention that they smoke or have a certain health issue.
For example, the survey may ask how many times they tried to diet in the last 12 months. If the individual is not mentally ready to change, they may not have dieted before or have just tried brief stints at losing weight.
The Pro-change Behavior System uses a trans-theoretical model on how people change health behaviors and what spurs them to change. Based on decades of research, this model asserts that people fall into five stages of behavior change: pre-contemplative, contemplative, preparation, action and maintenance.
Kaegi says that 80% of Americans are stuck between pre-contemplation mode, meaning they don’t think they need to change, and contemplation, which means they wish they could change, but don’t know how.
Based on this model, the Healthstat program uses a different approach than what doctors may use. If a morbidly obese person sees a doctor, that professional likely advises them to diet or they will suffer greater health risks and eventually die prematurely.
“Sharing information and warnings just doesn’t work with people who are in [high risk] categories. What does work is an understanding, listening and caring coach who can walk them through the change at their own pace,” says Kaegi. Doctors don’t have time for this type of approach, he adds.
If a pre-contemplative obese person is targeted by Healthstat’s process, their coaches suggest the individual schedule an appointment at the clinic by a certain date. If they don’t make an appointment, then the coach is prompted by the electronic health record. A trained coach calls the individual and convinces them, kindly and patiently, to go to an appointment the coach will schedule. Once at the clinic, their staff can treat patients for health complaints like a sore throat or ear infection and then spend the remainder of the 25 minute appointment helping them begin a journey of personal health.
For this program, the employer would need access to an onsite clinic or they could combine with other smaller employers who can’t afford an on-site clinic to participate in a near-site location.
Sharing biometrics online for social support
In their new platform, online wellness facilitator Keas combines a social media front end with biometric integration to offer employees a fun, social and supportive environment to improve their health while building camaraderie in the workplace. Companies such as The Cheesecake Factory, Pfizer and Salesforce.com are customers of the platform, which offers employees customized content specific to their individual health needs. Safeway and Target have recently signed on as well.
When not working or watching TV, adults spend a great deal of time on Facebook and other social media platforms. Keas has created a “Facebook for your health,” says CEO Josh Steven, where employees can share healthy meal ideas and exercise routines in an online community where their peers can like their posts and exchange comments. Comments bring people back into the platform, increasing engagement and making health a two-way street.
Participants can also join groups for challenges and goals as well as enter company-wide challenges to take more steps or eat more greens. Since the platform is fully integrated with quantifiable data from their personal measurement and accountability devices, such as FitBit bracelet trackers, employees can upload their results and receive actionable advice or feedback on how to achieve their daily fitness goals.
A longitudinal health profile that gives employees a basic overview of their individual well-being and health risks provides them with a visual representation of how they are improving their health over time. In addition, quizzes, challenges, weekly goal setting and healthy breaks will be tailored to address high risk issues such BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, and pre-diabetes. The platform sets small goals to teach users how to accomplish weekly objectives no matter where they are in their personal health journey.
“Give them information that they can use, that’s actionable and not too medical,” says Steven.
The program requires employees use their names because they behave better, says Steven, though he says those taking part have few qualms because “the tone and quality of participation is positive and encouraging."
While employees can share their biometric information (after agreeing to a pop-up that ensures they are fully aware of the risks sharing their private information), most people instead share examples of how they’re improving their health. For example, individuals will post, “how I reached over 12,000 steps a day” or “how I managed my stress.’”
"Users’ stories are not medical in nature, but they relate to medical conditions that carry high risk factors and drive up health care costs. We approach it from the ‘how to’ or a ‘what you can do’ approach, rather than from hard data," explains Steven.
All too often, a person with high risk factors will stop attending coaching sessions because they fail to do their homework. They feel guilty so they stop participating. This program, which can integrate coaching, suggests manageable and fun goals from which the participant chooses three each week.
"Tech has to be presented in a way that it's not technical. Employees don’t want to know about what tech is used; they want it to be easy, fun and social. We look at technology as an enabler and a tool that makes health fun and social and allows integrated data," says Steven.
Steven believes that the more people are social about their health, the more they can be proactive and make changes like improving their diet and exercising.
“When communicating with peers about losing weight, improving your diet or reversing metabolic screening rates, as long as you’re not alone and have colleagues to share with, collaborate and encourage you, that really drives behavior change,” he says.
IRS Issues Additional Final Regulations for Play or Pay Rule
Originally posted on March 05, 2014 on https://www.treasury.gov
On March 05, 2014, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final rules to implement the information reporting provisions for insurers and certain employers under the ACA that take effect in 2015.
“Today’s announcement is part of the Administration’s effort to provide certainty and early guidance about major health policies so employers, small business owners and other individuals can plan for 2015,” said Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark J. Mazur. “Treasury’s final rules significantly streamline and simplify information reporting while making it easier for employers and insurers of all sizes to provide the quality, affordable health coverage that every American deserves.”
While 96 percent of employers are not subject to ACA reporting requirements or the employer responsibility provision because they have fewer than 50 employees, in 2015 requirements begin to phase-in for the remaining four percent of employers that are required to offer quality, affordable coverage to employees or make a payment. The final regulations released today on information reporting by those employers will substantially streamline reporting requirements for employers, particularly those that offer highly affordable coverage to full-time employees. Final rules were also released today to provide guidance for reporting by insurers and other parties that provide health coverage under the ACA. Together, these rules respond to feedback from stakeholders and will help employers and insurers effectively comply with their responsibilities.
These additional final rules include the following key provisions:
Single, Combined Form for Information Reporting
Employers that “self-insure” will have a streamlined way to report under both the employer and insurer reporting provisions. Responding to widespread requests, the final rules provide for a single, consolidated form that employers will use to report to the IRS and employees under both sections 6055 and 6056, thereby simplifying the process and avoiding duplicative reporting. The combined form will have two sections: the top half includes the information needed for section 6056 reporting, while the bottom half includes the information needed for section 6055.
- Employers that have fewer than 50 full-time employees are exempt from the ACA employer shared responsibility provisions and therefore from the employer reporting requirements.
- Employers that are large enough to be subject to the employer responsibility provisions and that “self-insure” will complete both parts of the combined form for information reporting.
- Employers that are subject to employer responsibility but do not “self-insure” will complete only the top section of the combined form (reporting for section 6056). Insurers and other providers of health coverage will report only under section 6055, using a separate form for that purpose. Insurers do not have to report on enrollees in the Health Insurance Marketplace, since the Marketplace will already be providing information on individuals’ coverage there.
Simplified Option for Employer Reporting
- For employers that provide a “qualifying offer” to any of their full time employees, the final rules provide a simplified alternative to reporting monthly, employee-specific information on those employees.
- A qualifying offer is an offer of minimum value coverage that provides employee-only coverage at a cost to the employee of no more than about $1,100 in 2015 (9.5 percent of the Federal Poverty Level), combined with an offer of coverage for the employee’s family.
- For employees who receive qualifying offers for all 12 months of the year, employers will need to report only the names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) of those employees and the fact that they received a full-year qualifying offer. Employers will also give the employees a copy of that simplified report or a standard statement indicating that the employee received a full-year qualifying offer.
- For employees who receive a qualifying offer for fewer than all 12 months of the year, employers will be able to simplify reporting to the IRS and to employees for each of those months by simply entering a code indicating that the qualifying offer was made.
- To provide for a phase-in of the simplified option, employers certifying that they have made a qualifying offer to at least 95% of their full-time employees (plus an offer to their families) will be able to use an even simpler alternative reporting method for 2015. Those employers will be able to use the simplified, streamlined reporting method for their entire workforce, including for any employees who do not receive a qualifying offer for the full year. Those employers will provide employees with standard statements relating to their possible eligibility for premium tax credits.
The final regulations also give employers the option to avoid identifying in the report which of its employees are full-time, and instead to just include in the report those employees who may be full-time. To take advantage of this option, the employer must certify that it offered affordable, minimum value coverage to at least 98 percent of the employees on whom it is reporting.
For more information, see sections 6055 and 6056 final regulations here.
Study Reveals Importance of Personal Interactions in Return-to-Work
Originally posted March 03, 2014 by Kristy Tugman on https://www.voluntary.com
Most HR managers are aware of the impact that disability absences have on an organization’s bottom line. But what they may not realize is that the costs associated with these absences are also having an effect on the global economy, as businesses everywhere struggle with getting disability-related costs under control. In fact, one study showed that disability costs were 8 to 15% of payroll in 2002. Seven years later, a similar study found that statistic to hold true, while also suggesting that disability costs would rise by 37% in the future due to the aging population.
Other studies confirm that disability costs are indeed a concern for countries around the world: the U.K., Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia and Canada all report escalating disability payments. In Norway, for example, disability payments are about 2.4% of the country’s gross domestic product. And Canada reports that close to 10% of its working population is receiving disability benefits.
Unfortunately there’s no magic bullet for solving the challenge of disability absences, as employers have come to realize. But with so little research supporting effective techniques for return to work, most employers would agree that it’s time for researchers to explore the possible factors − particularly behavior-based techniques that have shown promise − involved in helping employees get back to work successfully.
A recent qualitative study of employees in a cross-section of industries, including manufacturing, television production, financial services and the legal profession, explored patterns and trends of those who went out on disability and their return to work experience. The findings were particularly instructive for employers seeking answers for how to motivate employees on disability to make the transition back to work.
Positive and negative consequences
The study identified several key themes of note, starting with the consequences of not returning to work. The researcher concluded that participants in the study experienced a range of consequences that evolved throughout their experience of being out of work. These included negative consequences, such as financial impact (not having enough money to pay the bills), a loss of personal identity (defining one’s self in terms of job duties) and a loss of control (over one’s destiny). Yet consequences could also be positive, with some participants expressing relief that they didn’t initially have to resume their job duties.
It also became clear that personal interactions were very important as motivators, and were linked to both positive and negative consequences. Not surprisingly, the most significant interactions for employees were those with their co-workers and managers. Employees who experienced negative interactions with their manager had a decreased sense of connection with their employer – and were less motivated to return to work. In addition, participants indicated that when their manager reached out to express concern about their disability, it helped to strengthen their sense of loyalty to the company. However, if a manager reached out only to inquire about when they planned to return to work, it put undue pressure on the employees and created anxiety.
Interactions with co-workers were even more significant for employees. Employees noted that positive interactions with their fellow workers made them feel as if they “owed” it to their peers to return to work. But when co-workers failed to reach out to those who were out on disability, employees said they felt a strong sense of disappointment and isolation.
Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the study revealed that negative consequences related to a loss of identity and control were factors that led to return to work in many cases. Employees expressed a direct connection between their identity, self-worth and work. Some participants said they were motivated to return to work because they feared “losing themselves” if they did not.
Likewise, when employees gave control to their physician about their return to work, they were not as likely to return. Initially, most of the participants did release control to their doctor, but as they began to recover from their disability, they slowly took control back through small steps toward independence and each made the decision to get back on the job as they felt more in control.
The findings from the study have clear implications for employers. For example, although co-workers play an important role in helping employees with disabilities feel connected to the company, they are often unsure about how to appropriately stay in touch. Some said they didn’t want to bother the employee or intrude on what they were going through. One simple way to reach out is to send a card from the team, letting the employee know he or she is being thought of. In addition, managers can contact the employee to ask about their well-being, rather than requesting a return-to-work date.
Employers also need to realize that what type of consequences the employee is experiencing can be useful in helping overcome the barriers to return to work. The study showed that what an employee was thinking and feeling played a significant role in influencing the level of recovery. For instance, when employees started to believe they were in control, they felt a sense of empowerment. When they began to take responsibility for their productivity, they saw it as a positive sign that they could adapt and ultimately recover and return to work.
If rehabilitation practitioners and employers can understand the consequences an employee is experiencing, they can both interact and intervene more effectively with their employees who are out on disability to produce a successful return to productivity – an outcome that is beneficial to all.
Despite Delayed Key Provision, Health Care Reform Triggers Benefits Action Among Employers
Originally posted March 03, 2014 on https://www.voluntary.com
Employers report impact on benefits funding, opening opportunity for voluntary benefits
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With Affordable Care Act deadlines imminent in 2014 and 2015, employers are reporting the increased impact of health care reform on various aspects of employee benefits. According to Health Care Reform: Full Steam Ahead, the first in a series of five research briefs based on The Prudential Insurance Company of America’s (Prudential’s) Eighth Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond, nearly half (49%) of employers report they are extremely or very likely to make a high-deductible health plan their only health insurance option.
“The Affordable Care Act could very well usher in a new era for and emphasis on voluntary benefits. More employers are utilizing them for recruiting and retaining talent and employees increasingly view them as a cost-effective way to protect their families’ financial futures.”
“Although employers anticipate scaling back benefit offerings due to cost considerations, there’s great opportunity for them to offer voluntary benefits in order to continue providing attractive benefits to their employees,” said Vishal Jain, vice president, Strategy, Planning and Business Insights, Prudential Group Insurance. “The Affordable Care Act could very well usher in a new era for and emphasis on voluntary benefits. More employers are utilizing them for recruiting and retaining talent and employees increasingly view them as a cost-effective way to protect their families’ financial futures.”
According to the report, 73% of employers say the law is having an impact on benefits service and support and 69% report there is an impact on benefits communications. “With a shifting benefits landscape, carriers are now focused on being a trusted resource for employers while offering a full spectrum of services such as enrollment communications, benefits education, record keeping, and administrative services,” Jain said.
In addition to highlighting the law’s potential impact on voluntary benefits, health insurance exchanges central to the legislation are top of mind for employees surveyed. Key findings include:
Employees are increasingly confident more Americans will be covered under the Affordable Care Act (43%, up 7 percentage points from 2012). An expanding number feel fewer employers will offer health insurance (44%, a 13 percentage point increase from 2012), and 38% of those employees believe their employer will drop coverage.
Most employees report having neither a favorable nor unfavorable opinion toward both public and private exchanges.
About one-third of employees report they have heard of but know little about public or private exchanges while one-in-five say they have never heard of either before the survey.
“As employers evaluate the implications of public and private exchanges, the importance of their partnerships with carriers will continue to grow. Employers will look for carriers that provide value, make benefits administration easier, help employees make better benefit decisions, and provide excellent customer service,” said Jain. “We’re poised to support our customers with innovative and cost-effective benefit solutions, coupled with a full array of services designed to improve employees’ financial wellness.”
Feds Post PPACA Risk Program Regs
Originally posted March 05, 2014 by Allison Bell on https://www.lifehealthpro.com
Only the commercial health plans sold through the new public exchanges -- and some very similar plans -- will be able to participate in a new underwriting profit protection program.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today ruled that only "qualified health plans" -- and plans that are "substantially the same as a QHP" -- can either make payments to or get cash from the federal "risk corridors" program.
The drafters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created the risk corridors program to protect QHP issuers against the possibility that all of the underwriting rules and benefits mandates PPACA is imposing could flood some insurers with claims.
Carriers with high operating profits are supposed to reimburse carriers with profit margins of less than 3 percent. If all health insurers do poorly, PPACA calls for the federal government to chip in.
CMS talks about the risk corridors program and many other PPACA provisions in the same 335-page anthology of PPACA final regulations that lets consumers keep non-PPACA-compliant individual policies for two extra years, if insurers and state regulators permit that, and that keeps the current March 31 PPACA individual QHP enrollment deadline.
Commenters on a draft of the regulations asked CMS to let all health plans that comply with PPACA rules, including non-exchange health plans, participate in the risk corridors program.
Limiting the program to QHPs and very similar plans will preserve the intent of the program, which is to stabilize QHP premiums, officials say.
Other sections of the new CMS regulations deal with everything from whether agents and brokers can use their own websites to enroll employers in small-group exchanges' QHPs to whether short-term medical plans have to pay for another PPACA risk-management program, a temporary reinsurance program.
CMS officials say they are comfortable with the idea of a state-based exchange letting brokers enroll businesses in exchange plans, but it's probably not going to make that feature available through the public exchanges it runs for HHS in 2015.
Short-term medical plan issuers might have to pay reinsurance program assessments, if the plans offer a minimum level of coverage value.
Elsewhere in the batch, CMS says.
- Connecticut is the only state taking advantage of a PPACA provision that lets states run their own reinsurance programs.
- The 2014 attachment point, or deductible, for PPACA reinsurance for health plans will be cut to $45,000, from $60,000, and the 2015 PPACA reinsurance premium will be $44 per enrollee per year.
- The HHS exchange user fee for 2015 will be 3.5 percent of premium.
CMS is preparing to publish the new PPACA regulations in the Federal Register March 11.
The IRS, meanwhile, is preparing to publish PPACA employer coverage mandate reporting final regulations for large employers and minimum essential coverage (MEC) regulations March 10.
In the IRS MEC regulations, for example, the IRS gives details about what address a reporting entity should use when it's sending workers' MEC statement.
In the final MEC regulations, the IRS says it will offer short-term relief for companies that get taxpayer identification numbers, dates of birth or other information wrong on returns filed in 2016 for the 2015 tax year.
But the relief is only available for employers or other reporting entities that make a good faith effort to comply with the regulations, officials say.
"No relief is provided in the case of reporting entities that do not make a good faith effort to comply with these regulations or that fail to timely file an information return or furnish a statement," officials warn in the preamble to the MEC regulations.
The IRS also is stating that sending a notice to a recipient's last known permanent address, or, if no permanent address is available, a temporary address, discharges the requirement to furnish a statement, even if the statement is returned.
5 Ways to Drive Healthy Behavior Change Virtually
Originally posted on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Employees have access to thousands of apps covering health and wellness on their mobile device. Employers and wellness vendors can offer workers hi-tech ways to track their physical activity, promote healthy eating and inspire wellness at work. Here are five mobile apps and outreach ideas to get employees moving and engaged in your wellness program.
For office employees sitting at their desk all day, sedentary work can cramp muscles and staring at a computer screen too long can cause eye strain. Employers can remind employees to take stretch breaks by building reminders into the network, such as having a reminder pop-up on their computer.
On the app side, HotSeat challenges people to get out of their seats for small breaks. It includes competitions, feedback on how your small bouts of physical activity add up to meaningful amounts. UtiliFit is another app that is breaking into this space, says LuAnn Heinen, vice president and wellness leader, National Business Group on Health.
Employers can encourage better nutrition and healthy food choices with smart receipts from the company cafeteria, says the National Business Group on Health vice president and wellness leader. When employees purchase food at the company café, the smart receipt shows the calorie and nutritional content of their food choices.
Many employees can’t afford to hire a personal trainer, but technology like Anthem’s and online trainer FitOrbit’s virtual fitness and real-time, Internet-based coaching offers fitness training without breaking the banks. After selecting a trainer based on a short questionnaire, the employee electronically receives a customized fitness and nutrition plan and ongoing coaching – the latter via the modern miracle of unlimited texting, plus a weekly personal exercise plan – to support their goals.
StickK app and website asks individuals to put up their own money for a charity that they hate if they don’t accomplish their wellness or other goal. The StickK website facilitates that transaction so that a gun control advocate, for example, would have to fork over cash to the National Rifle Association for failing to meet their goal. The platform also builds in an array of behavior principles (beyond giving away your money to a cause you oppose), among them social recognition and rewards, and feedback.
People may keep old health insurance another year
Originally posted March 05, 2014 on https://www.usatoday.com
WASHINGTON — Americans can buy insurance policies that don't meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act for another year, if their states' insurance regulators allow them to renew their policies this year, administration officials said Wednesday.
The change represented another midcourse correction for the law, which is still recovering from the flawed opening of the federal and state health care exchanges last Oct. 1 and the delay of several key provisions. Last July, the administration delayed the requirement that businesses provide health insurance for their employees, and President Obama said in November that those with pre-ACA insurance plans could keep them if they wanted.
"These policies implement the health care law in a common-sense way by continuing to smooth the transition for consumers and stakeholders and fixing problems wherever the law provides flexibility," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday.
The law originally required that everyone buy a policy that complied with its requirements in 2014. That meant skimpy plans, which sometimes cost more in premiums than the coverage they provided, had to be replaced by plans that included hospital stays and prescription benefits, as well as other basic benefits. The change came following political backlash after Obama told people that they would be able to keep the same health care plans after the law was enacted.
Obama offered insurers the option to continue to offer the old plans, though some states chose to mandate ACA-compliant insurance. The new rule states that individuals and small groups may continue to renew old policies up to or beginning Oct. 1, 2016.
The number of people in those policies is dropping, Sebelius and other officials said, but they wanted to give insurers time to make sure consumers knew about the options they have through the state and federal exchanges. Officials said that applies to about only 500,000 people.
It's still hard to determine how many people have moved to compliant plans because people are buying insurance both through the exchanges and through insurance companies, Sebelius said.
The delay should be made permanent, said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
"The administration's action today is a step toward keeping the promise that was made to the American people that if they liked their health plan, they could keep it," said Landrieu, a supporter of the law who faces a tough re-election fight this fall. "And I intend to hold the administration to that promise."
Officials also announced that employers that self-insure would be able to report insurer and employer provisions in one stream-lined form, as well as allowing the option of reporting which employees "may be" full-time, as opposed to "are" full-time.
"Today's announcement is part of the administration's effort to provide certainty and early guidance about major health policies so employers, small business owners and other individuals can plan for 2015," said Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark J. Mazur. "Treasury's final rules significantly streamline and simplify information reporting while making it easier for employers and insurers of all sizes to provide the quality, affordable health coverage that every American deserves."
This affects 4% of employers officials said, but comes in response to concerns that the process was time-consuming for those employers.
HHS also announced more protections for insurers who based premium prices on the assumption customers would shift from old plans to newer ones that met the law's requirements. It simplified reporting requirements for employers. The changes are part of a review of regulations required to implement the law, officials said, and reflect the experiences from earlier changes.
They also announced:
• Open enrollment for 2015 will begin Nov. 14, 2014, and end Feb. 15, 2015, so that insurers have more time to prepare.
• States have until June 15, rather than Jan. 1, to have a approved blueprint in place to transition to a state-based marketplace.
• That the cost-sharing limits for individuals for 2015 will be $6,600 and $13,200 for families.
• Allows federal SHOPS to offer stand-alone dental plans or a choice of plans, and allows employers to provide different contribution rates for full-time and part-time employees after 2015.
Changes to the enrollment period will give people more time to sign up after the holidays, said Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. It will also give them a chance to see how not having insurance in 2014 will affect their taxes, assuming they file early. Beginning in 2014, people who don't have health insurance must pay a fine when they file their taxes in early 2015.
Officials said they expect no more major announcements for the rest of the year, and that March 31 will remain the last day people may sign up for health insurance in 2014.
Budget proposal phases out some PPACA funding
Originally posted March 04, 2014 by Allison Bell on https://www.lifehealthpro.com
Managers of some new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) programs will have to wean themselves off of PPACA startup funding.
The Obama administration has included cuts in several sources of the PPACA grant money that has been flowing into state government and state public health insurance exchange offices the past few years.
The administration posted the proposal on the White House website today.
The budget would affect spending in fiscal year 2015, which starts Oct. 1.
An appendix that gives some details on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding proposal shows that outlays on state regulators' commercial health insurance premium review operations would fall to $50 million, from $80 million this year.
Gross spending on the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) program -- a "risk pool" program for people who could not qualify to buy conventional major medical coverage before the PPACA ban on use of personal health status information took effect -- would fall to 0, from about $1 billion this year.
Total new budget obligations for PPACA public exchange construction would fall to $836 million, from $1.3 billion, and gross outlays would fall to $1.9 billion, from $2.4 billion.
New budget obligations for Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) carriers -- the new member-owned, nonprofit carriers created by PPACA -- would drop to zero, from $221 million this year.
Elsewhere in the administration's budget proposal:
- Obligations for tax credit subsidies for private PPACA exchange plans -- "qualified health plans" (QHPs) -- and for QHP cost-sharing subsidies could increase to $60 billion, from $38 billion for 2014 and from nothing last year.
- Spending on a new, temporary, PPACA "risk corridor" program -- a program that's supposed to protect QHP issuers against underwriting losses -- could total $5.5 billion. The risk corridors program is supposed to be funded mainly by health insurers in the commercial individual and small group markets that earn underwriting profits, but the federal government may have to chip in if the entire individual market and the entire small-group market do poorly.
- Two of other PPACA "3 R's" risk management programs -- the temporary PPACA reinsurance program and a permanent risk adjustment program -- are supposed to get their money solely from insurer contributions. The reinsurance program would get $20 million for administration and pay out about $10 billion in reinsurance payments. The risk administration program would start with $3.4 billion in budget authority.
- Families in the top 3 percent in terms of taxable income would face a 28 percent cap on their ability to use itemized deductions and some other tax breaks to reduce tax liability. The cap would apply to employers' group health and retirement plan contributions.