The Future of Health Care in Obama’s Second Term
Source: thehealthcareblog.com
By: JOANNE CONROY, MD
Although members of the Obama team are now celebrating their election victory, the next four years will not be smooth sailing. Ignoring the campaign rhetoric, there is still much more work to be done in order to reshape our health care system; the effect on academic medical centers and teaching hospitals will be significant.
The political conscience is still being driven by the fear of the fiscal cliff, which dominates most Washington conversations. Both political parties agree that health care is a significant contributor to our present and future deficit and that we have to figure out how to deliver more care at a lower cost. But, they argue about what to call it, who gets credit, and whether the solution is bigger government involvement or a dominant private market?The potential cuts to NIH funding and graduate medical education support do not go away with another four Obama years. We anticipate that the president will reform the tax code and transform how we deliver health care. The latter will be his lasting legacy.
However, in all this chaos, there are opportunities. While we no longer hope for a bipartisan middle ground on health care — and rancor will certainly escalate if President Obama is reelected — to many people, the Affordable Care Act is starting to look like a tangible business opportunity. Every insurer is looking at the 30 million uninsured people who will receive coverage through a mix of subsidized private insurance for middle-class households and expanded Medicaid for low-income people. These new markets could be worth $50 billion to $60 billion in premiums in 2014, and as much as $230 billion annually within seven years. The structure and implementation of these programs present specific challenges for AMCs.
Medicaid:
Academic medical centers currently deliver 28 percent of inpatient care for Medicaid recipients and 40 percent of uninsured care in the United States — in only 6 percent of the acute care facilities. We have the Medicaid specialty care market cornered — because no one else will accept these patients. The expansion of Medicaid will create stress in our historical access points: emergency rooms and primary care offices. We will be overwhelmed if we do not dramatically reengineer where we deliver care and rethink who should deliver care for what conditions. We will experience costs that quickly spiral out of control if we just expand our current system.
Obama’s re-election removes the indecision about whether to opt in or opt out for many state governors. Most insurers are betting on the fact that dual eligibles (patients who are disabled or poor enough to qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare) will be moved into the managed Medicaid plans. This will require active care management, better EHRs, geomapping of resource utilization, and a greater understanding of the impact of social determinants of health on this population. It will be interesting to see if the role of the insurer really expands to manage the outcome instead of just the cost.
Health Exchanges:
The implementation of the exchanges poses challenges for states, because they are supposed to be self-sustaining by 2015. Their ability to achieve this comes down to demographics and the size of their insured pool. Small high-risk pools will need to be intensively managed (like the District of Columbia), in contrast to larger populations that can be more loosely managed as they develop state-wide infrastructure. For academic medicine, the exchanges will present specific challenges. Our services could be subject to higher deductibles, copays and even co-insurance if the exchanges choose to tier providers according to cost. As a result, our care could be inaccessible to many patients without means.
There has also been very little discussion about how to transition graduate medical education support into the exchange market. Currently Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers support the educational mission through explicit or implicit support. Supporting the training of the health care workforce has been considered a public good that increases access and quality for patients. Medicare Advantage programs use a “carve out” to preserve this support, but this option has not yet been part of the exchange discussions.
Physician Shortages:
The Center for Workforce Studies at the AAMC estimates that the nation will face significant physician shortages by 2020. As the newly insured begin to seek care in 2014, and as we anticipate these shortages, one must wonder who will care for these patients? By 2017, the number of physician retirees will be close to the number of new medical school graduates. While medical schools as a whole have been expanding the number of students they admit, there may not be enough residency positions to accommodate them. The Obama team can ignore the growing physician shortage — but at their peril. Unfortunately, we also continue to debate within specialty societies about who should provide the services, rather than talking about how we can deliver care as a team more efficiently. Use of interprofessional teams holds great promise for improving the efficiency of the physician workforce, and we anticipate that the administration will continue to support innovative reforms in health care delivery.
Health care reform will continue to move forward, imperfect as it may be. I have great hopes for bipartisan solutions, but I won’t hold my breath. The really hard work is not over; it has just begun.
Obama Wins Re-election: Health Care Reform Law Here to Stay
After hard-fought campaigns by both candidates, President Barack Obama has been re-elected for a second term in office. Obama’s victory in the election, along with last summer’s Supreme Court decision upholding the health care reform law, cements the Democratic Party’s dedication to the legislation.
While opponents of the law have called for its repeal, health care reform’s supporters consider the legislation to be the major achievement of Obama’s first term. Obama’s re-election, along with continued Democratic control of the Senate, means that implementation of the law will now continue without additional roadblocks.
WHAT DO EMPLOYERS HAVE TO DO NEXT?
With the landscape of employer-provided health care potentially changing over the next few years, employers should consider their future plans related to their role in employee health care. They may have to make some big decisions about whether to continue providing coverage to their employees. The “pay or play” penalties provide some incentive for employers to continue coverage, since they will be at risk for significant penalties if they do not. However, employers may decide that paying the penalty is more cost-effective than continuing to pay the ever-increasing costs of health care for employees and their families.
On the other hand, uncertainty among employees about the quality and cost of individual health coverage continues to make employer-provided health coverage an attractive recruiting and retention tool. Because of these advantages, most employers plan to continue offering coverage for now. The additional uncertainty for employers, with compliance obligations hinging on court decisions and the political process, has made many companies hesitant to make any large-scale changes.
Whatever their future decisions may be, employers that will continue to sponsor group health plans for the near future must prepare for upcoming deadlines. Significant health care reform provisions with looming effective dates include:
Summary of Benefits and Coverage
Health plans and issuers must provide an SBC to participants and beneficiaries that includes information about health plan benefits and coverage in plain language. The deadline for providing the SBC to participants and beneficiaries who enroll or re-enroll during an open enrollment period is the first open enrollment period that begins on or after Sept. 23, 2012. The SBC also must be provided to participants and beneficiaries who enroll other than through an open enrollment period (including individuals who are newly eligible for coverage and special enrollees) effective for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2012.
60-Days’ Notice of Plan Changes
A health plan or issuer must provide 60 days’ advance notice of any material modifications to the plan that are not related to renewals of coverage. Notice can be provided in an updated SBC or a separate summary of material modifications. This 60-day notice requirement becomes effective when the SBC requirement goes into effect for a health plan.
$2,500 Limit on Health FSA Contributions
The health care law will limit the amount of salary reduction contributions to health flexible spending accounts to $2,500 per year for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2013.
W-2 Reporting
Beginning with the 2012 tax year, employers that are required to issue 250 or more W-2 Forms must report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored group health coverage on employees’ W-2 Forms. The cost must be reported beginning with the 2012 W-2 Forms, which are issued in January 2013.
Preventive Care for Women
Effective for plan years beginning on or after Aug. 1, 2012, non- grandfathered health plans must cover specific preventive care services for women without cost-sharing requirements. Calendar year plans must comply effective Jan. 1, 2013.
Employee Notice of Exchanges
Effective March 1, 2013, employers must provide a notice to employees regarding the availability of the health care reform insurance exchanges. HHS has indicated that it plans on issuing model exchange notices in the future for employers to use.
Additional Medicare Tax for High-wage Workers
In 2013, health care reform increases the hospital insurance tax rate by 0.9 percentage points on wages over $200,000 for an individual ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly). Employers will have to withhold additional amounts once employees earn over $200,000 in a year.
WHAT GUIDANCE WILL WE SEE?
Regulations on a number of issues remain outstanding. The regulatory agencies responsible for implementation and enforcement of the health care reform law—the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services— began issuing additional guidance once the Supreme Court upheld the law. Additional guidance is expected now that the election is over.
Issues that will likely be addressed in future guidance include:
Employer Pay or Play Mandate
The agencies are expected to, and have indicated that they will, issue more guidance for employers to help them determine how to comply with the shared responsibility provisions of the law.
Automatic Enrollment
The Department of Labor is required to issue regulations implementing the rule requiring large employers that offer health coverage to automatically enroll new employees in the health plan (and re-enroll current participants).
Nondiscrimination Rules for Fully-insured Plans
Under health care reform, non-grandfathered fully- insured plans will not be able to discriminate in favor of highly-compensated employees with respect to their health benefits. The IRS delayed the effective date of this rule for additional regulations, which have yet to be issued.
State governments may also take further steps to establish the health insurance exchanges required by the health care reform law. The federal government will step in and set up exchanges for states that fail to establish their own exchanges. Many states have delayed implementation and will need to accelerate their efforts if they want to run their own exchanges.
CHALLENGES FOR IMPLEMENTATION
As we get closer to full implementation of the health care reform law, questions linger about whether the framework is in place for all pieces to be operational by their deadlines. Insufficient staffing of the responsible agencies is one potential issue, along with employer and state government hesitation or inability to implement certain parts of the law. Compliance efforts are likely to pick up now that the election is over.
What is an exchange and how does it work?
Source: https://www.liazon.com
An exchange is an online store where employees can purchase benefits. Exchanges offer multiple options of health insurance plans, and may also offer other benefits, such as dental, vision, life, disability, and other options. Exchanges that are "private" are run by industry, while "public" exchanges are run by the government.
In most cases, the employer uses a defined contribution strategy to give each employee a set amount of money to purchase benefits. The employees and their families can then go shopping in the exchange with the money allocated by their employer and add their own if needed. Depending on the exchange, employees can receive guidance and education about the plans to help them make purchasing decisions.
Most small businesses don’t offer health coverage
Source: www.benefitspro.com
By Kathryn Mayer
A new study finds only 49 percent of workers in small businesses with fewer than 50 employees were offered and eligible for health insurance through their employer in 2010, down from 58 percent in 2003.
Larger firms are much more likely to provide health benefits. About 90 percent of workers in firms with 100 or more employees were offered and eligible for health insurance in both 2003 and 2010, according to the report from the Commonwealth Fund.
Low-wage workers in small businesses were the least likely to be offered and eligible for coverage: Just one-third of workers making less than $15 an hour in small firms were both offered and eligible to enroll in their employer’s health plan, compared to 70 percent of small firm workers making over $15 an hour.
Report coauthor and Commonwealth Fund Vice President Sara Collins says the report “highlights a nearly decade-long trend of declining health insurance coverage and rising costs for workers in small businesses, particularly those who make less than $15 an hour.”
“As a result, many people who work for small businesses can’t afford the health care they need or have medical bills they are unable to pay,” she says.
About half small business employees (45 percent) reported trouble paying medical bills in 2010, and 46 percent reported that they skipped needed medical care because of cost, the report says. That’s about ten percent higher than those workers working in larger firms.
Small business workers were also more likely to be dissatisfied with their health insurance, with 29 percent rating it fair or poor, compared to 16 percent of those at larger businesses. They also don’t have as much choice when it comes to health plan options.
But Commonwealth researchers say health reform should help address and solve some of these problems by offering premium tax credits to certain small businesses and by granting subsidies to many uninsured workers toward their purchase of health insurance beginning in 2014.
“The Affordable Care Act should mitigate this trend by improving the affordability and comprehensiveness of health insurance both for small-business owners who want to offer health benefits and for workers in small businesses who can't get coverage through their jobs.”
The Commonwealth Fund is a nonpartisan research foundation that supports PPACA. Though they argue the law will help small businesses, opponents say the law will burden small businesses while raising taxes.
10 tips for saving money on health care
By Kathryn Mayer
Source: www.benefitspro.com
Though we argue a lot about what solutions we need to fix our country's health care industry, we can usually at least agree on what one of the problems is: It's too expensive.
According to a recent survey, more than half of Americans see high costs associated with medical care and health coverage as the most pressing health care problem. Even more, health care costs are keeping patients away from the doctor with about one in three saying it has made them put off medical treatment and skip or postpone a regular doctor’s visit.
“Medical costs are among the biggest budget busters, especially when health issues are unexpected,” says Mike Sullivan, director of education for Take Charge America, a national non-profit credit counseling agency. “While some bills can’t be prevented, you may be surprised that you can drastically cut your overall health care expenses by questioning, negotiating and shopping around.”
Sullivan offers the following 10 tips for saving money on health care.
Stay healthy
First and foremost, commit to healthy living. Eat well, exercise and steer clear of unhealthy habits like smoking and excessive drinking. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, medical expenses for an obese person are about 42 percent higher than someone of healthy weight. Likewise, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says it costs 18 percent more to insure a smoker.
Take preventive action
Preventive care is crucial for keeping health care costs down over time, and many insurance plans now provide preventive-care screenings without charging deductibles and copays. Annual well-visits give your doctor an opportunity to provide necessary medical advice and identify health concerns before they become major issues.
Choose in-network providers
If you have medical insurance, choose in-network health care providers to keep your out-of-pocket costs down. This applies to your family doctor, specialists, health care facilities and even medical labs.
Assess urgency
If you need to see a doctor after hours, consider an urgent care or convenience-care clinic over the ER. You can save hundreds of dollars for relatively minor issues like a sprained ankle or the flu.
Maximize your deductible.
If you’re close to meeting (or have already met) your insurance deductible, schedule any necessary medical procedures or physician visits in the same calendar year. Your deductible starts over at year’s end, and waiting to schedule procedures means you’ll pay a larger share of the cost.
Inquire about medical necessities
Some medical procedures are urgent and necessary, others are less so. If money is tight—especially if you’re a private-pay patient—ask your doctor about the feasibility of delaying your procedure.
Negotiate costs
If you need to see a doctor and you’re paying out of pocket, be sure to compare prices. It’s important to know, too, that many providers will negotiate prices or provide cash discounts to private-pay patients. While the ER is no place to barter, consider this tactic for non-urgent or elective procedures.
Review your coverage
If you’re self-insured, review your coverage annually to make sure you’re not under- or over-insured. If you’re insured through work, evaluate your plan during open enrollment. With health-care reform changes and a variety of insurance plans to choose from, the coverage you selected last year may no longer be the best option.
Find Rx discounts
Many pharmacies extend special offers on prescription drugs. One pharmacy may advertise a $4 cholesterol medication while another may offer a low-price on blood-pressure meds. Be sure to shop around. If you have multiple prescriptions, it may be more cost effective to fill them at separate pharmacies. Additionally, ask your doctor to prescribe generics whenever possible.
Consider online and mail-order prescriptions
Search Web and mail-order pharmacies for deep discounts. Some even offer a three-month supply of drugs for the same price as one month at a neighborhood pharmacy.
Web Well
New research suggests that online tools can improve the outcome of a weight-loss campaign. A study by Brown University researchers found that Internet-based weight-loss sessions improved outcomes and helped participants keep the weight off afterward.
Small business owners have poor grasp of health reform
Source: https://eba.benefitnews.com
By Health Data Management
A survey by online health benefits seller eHealthInsurance of 439 small business clients finds most do not understand applicable provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
The act requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees to provide coverage. Only two of the surveyed clients were large enough to fall under the requirement, yet 34% believed they had to provide coverage, and another 35% didn’t know. Thirty-one percent correctly knew that they were not required to pay a tax if they did not offer insurance because of the size of their business.
More than three-quarters of surveyed small businesses were not familiar with reform-mandated insurance exchanges, designed to be one-stop shopping sites for health benefits for employees and those who don’t have work-related benefits.
Sixty-eight percent of surveyed employers have no plans to drop coverage for employees in 2014, 29% would consider dropping coverage and 3% expect to drop it.
More than three-quarters of respondents are not doing long-term planning on how health reform, including insurance exchanges, may affect their business. In addition, 51% would consider increasing employees’ share of premium costs and 39% would consider increasing the deductible. More results are available here.
Countdown to Healthcare
Source: https://www.benefitspro.com
By Mark Roberts
America is just a few short days away from the election of a new presidential term, and the stakes have never been higher.
On one side is the juggernaut of the Federal government headed up by the incumbent Barack Obama, and on the other side is the locomotive traveling at breakneck speed toward the final depot, with engineer former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the throttle. On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the nation will have either a new face in the White House come next January, or the same one inhabiting 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the last four years will just go back to the office for another term.
On the block is health care and either the demise or further propagation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Both candidates have strong views about this landmark legislation, and both the Democrats and the Republicans have their own reasons why they love it or hate it. The PPACA has no middle ground, and it is fast becoming more entrenched into the fabric of the economy, both businesses and consumers, states and federal government agencies, and the health care environment. And health care is the focal point of much of the political landscape in this election year.
According to LifeHealthPro, health insurance channel editor Allison Bell reports that “the two candidates engage in platform-to-platform combat over the future of commercial insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.”
There are 6 key differences on health care between the two:
1. Commercial health insurance system change. President Obama says PPACA already is improving health care access for millions of Americans and “ending insurance abuses” by letting young adults stay on their parents’ coverage up till age 26; forbidding health insurers from imposing lifetime benefits caps; limiting insurers’ ability to impose annual benefits caps; requiring insurers to pay for checkups, vaccinations and other preventive care without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients; and requiring that plans that spend more than a certain percentage of revenue on administrative costs send their customers rebates.
Gov. Romney says he would return responsibility for regulating local insurance markets and providing care for the poor, the uninsured and the chronically ill to the states, and his administration would limit moves to apply federal standards and requirements to private insurers, he says. The Republican candidate says he would encourage use of health insurance exchanges, and that he would promote the use of high-risk pools, reinsurance and risk adjustment mechanisms to help people with chronic health problems who cannot qualify to buy conventional health insurance. Also, he would work to “prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage” and “facilitate [health information technology] interoperability.”
2. Women’s health and abortion. The Obama team has worked to link the fate of PPACA to the fate of PPACA provisions that require most health plans to include benefits for contraceptive services in the package of basic preventive services that must be covered without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients; many insurance plans are beginning to fully cover birth control without co-pays or deductibles as part of women’s preventive care.
The Romney campaign website does not mention abortion or birth control in its discussion of health issues. The Republican Party, in its platform, says the following about federal health care policy and abortion: “Through Obamacare, the current administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare. We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life.”
3. Medicare. The PPACA, according to the Obama campaign, already has made important changes in Medicare, such as requiring basic Medicare to impose a package of basic preventive services without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients, and reducing the size of the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan “doughnut hole” — the gap between the point at which routine prescription coverage ends and catastrophic coverage begins.
Governor Romney wants to modernize entitlement programs and guarantee their vitality for future generations.
“Instead of paying providers directly for medical services, the government’s role will be to help future seniors pay for an insurance option that provides coverage at least as good as today’s Medicare, and to offer traditional Medicare as one of the insurance options that seniors can choose,” he says. “With insurers competing against each other to provide the best value to customers, efficiency and quality will improve and costs will decline. Seniors will be allowed to keep the savings from less expensive options or choose to pay more for costlier plans.” Medicare would stay the same for retirees and near retirees. Younger workers would get a fixed amount that they could use to buy either traditional Medicare coverage or private plan coverage, and they would have to make up the difference out of their own pockets if they wanted to buy more expensive coverage.
4. Medicaid. President Obama says of Medicaid—the program for poor people and for eligible nursing home patients—mainly that he believes Romney would cut federal Medicaid funding.
Governor Romney says he would replace the current Medicaid funding formula with a “block grant” program that would provide each state with a set amount of cash that it could use as it wished. He says he would “limit federal standards and requirements” for Medicaid as well as for private insurance.
5. Tort reform. President Obama says nothing in his comments aimed at voters about “tort reform”—the idea of controlling health care costs by reducing what doctors and other providers spend to protect themselves against lawsuits.
Romney says he would promote free health insurance markets by capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.
6. Health accounts. The president says nothing on his campaign website about health savings accounts or health reimbursement arrangements on his websites.
Candidate Romney states he would “unshackle HSAs by allowing funds to be used for insurance premiums.” Although he has vowed to streamline the tax code, he also mentioned he would “end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance” and encourage independent entities to rate health plans. Plus, he also has talked about wanting to let health insurance companies sell coverage across state lines.
Regardless of the discussion over health care between now and the election, one thing is for sure. There is going to be a winner and a loser. The debate over Obamacare can ramp up the rhetoric about how good or bad the PPACA is, and the electorate certainly gets energized when it is up for discussion.
Who is telling the truth? We’ll see come Nov. 6. Now, here is your obligation—exercise your inalienable right to vote. If you don’t and you find yourself on the losing side the next day, don’t blame the politicians.
Politics in the Workplace: HR's Guide to the Election Season
Source: Hireology
Introduction
There’s no question that the closer we get to the election, the more difficult it becomes for a worker to distance themselves from politics. Whether they’re listening to the news on their way to work or standing in the office kitchen waiting for their leftovers to heat up, political talk seems to permeate upon every part of our day.
But should we really be talking politics at the office? What if an employee requests time off to go vote? Do you have to let them? Don’t worry, Hireology has you covered.
Hireology’s Do’s & Don’ts of Politics in the Workplace
What is proper etiquette when it comes to discussing politics in the office? We’re the experts, and as a rule of thumb, tread lightly; you don’t want to cause any tension amongst co-workers. By following these do’s and don’ts, your company and your company culture will resist the conflicts of election season.
Do:
Make sure employees are aware of any guidelines that prohibit bringing campaign materials into the office. If that includes restrictions on wearing political clothing, setting your desktop screen to a picture of your preferred candidate or sending out emails in support of a candidate, make sure they know that as well. Send out a reminder email about theses guidelines and recommend that all employees err on the side of caution when it comes to deciding what to bring to the office.
Do:
If political talk does arise, encourage everyone to play nice and not take any politically charged comments personally. It’s best to avoid conflict and think of the discussion (or debate) as just a conversation. By keeping political conversations friendly, the office culture will not suffer.
When conversations do turn heated, encourage employees to walk away. There’s nothing wrong with using a little white lie such as “I have to run an errand” or “I have to make a phone call” as long as it gets you out of a tense situation. But as Lynze Wardle Lenio shares in her blog post on the Daily Muse, agreeing to disagree is the best solution. By doing so, no one walks away with hard (or hurt) feelings.
Do:
Allow your employees to leave the office to vote on Election Day. Not only is it a common courtesy, in many places it’s the law to give employees paid time off in order to vote. Business Management Daily has a list of voting laws by state. If you’re unsure of the law in your state, check the list at the following link just to be safe. https://hr.blr.com/state-comparison-charts/Does-My-State-have-Voting-Laws-Map
Don’t:
Even if you’re not at work, it’s still important to think before you speak. Don’t rant on Facebook about why you hate candidate X if you’re Facebook friends with your co-workers. Chances are good that not everyone feels the same as you, and you don’t want anyone walking up to you the next day calling you out for your political beliefs.
Don’t:
Discussing any heated issues at the office, even with co-workers who have the same views, is a bad idea and should be avoided at all costs. You don’t want others overhearing your conversation and then complaining to HR (unless you are HR, then things get messy...). Views on heated topics typically stem from religious or moral beliefs and bringing up such topics can easily strike a nerve with people. Plus, you can get into serious legal trouble if someone feels that they were attacked for their religious beliefs.
Don’t:
It can be hard be avoid discussing politics in the workplace, but it’s imperative to refrain from bringing up politics in an interview. Not only can it hurt the candidate experience; but if that candidate takes to the Internet to share their horror story of your political talk during the interview, it could cause major damage to your company image.
Discussing Politics in the Office
The Wall Street Journal found that employers typically take one of three approaches to dealing with political discus- sions in the office: Ignoring, discouraging or embracing. The approach you implement within the company should be based on the best interest of the entire team, not just a handful of director-level employees.
Ignoring
Are there just a handful of employees who make it their life’s goal to sway others into believing their values and beliefs are superior? Perhaps it would be best to simply ignore them anytime politics are brought up.
Discovery
Do you have a relatively confrontational team who are so set in their ways that they refuse to accept any beliefs or ideas other than their own? Send out a friendly reminder that talking politics should be done outside of working hours (and even then it’s iffy).
Embracing
What if you have an office full of open-minded people who enjoy working alongside each other? Make like Boston-based clothing company Karmaloop and embrace it! A friendly discussion never hurt anyone; plus, it’s a great way to nurture company culture!
By looking at the team as a whole, you can make the best decision as to whether or not any guidelines need to be put in place. Just remember to not let your own political beliefs get in the way when setting guidelines about political talk in the office.
Illegal Interview Questions - The “Election Season” Edition
Everyone knows not to talk about the “Big Three” at work (money, politics, and religion) but what about when the only thing the media are talking about 24/7 is politics? Does that make it OK inside a job interview? Maybe it’s just an accident and it slips out, or maybe hiring managers around the country are taking advan- tage of the political season by casually inquiring about a job candidate’s views during an interview.
Either way, it’s totally illegal and unethical. Need to check yourself? Here are the most common sneaky political and totally illegal interview questions asked in an job interview:
1. “So, are you voting next week?”
Ahh... a sneaky starting question that usually leads to a heated political discussion. What a way to con your candidates into blurting out something they will instantly regret so you can mentally ding* them on the spot. It’s definitely not OK to move them on to the next interviewing phase if their views reflect your own. (Just because they support a certain candidate doesn’t mean they are going to make a great Sales Manager.)
*ding or dinging is a word used by Hireologists to describe the action of turning down a candidate or physically pressing the thumbs down button in Hireology to take an unqualified candidate out of the running.
2. “Are you involved in any political organizations?”
Ooh tricky one! The candidate could think that you want to hear their involvement and participation in extra curricular activities and give you the full run down of their campaign work. But really, you just want to hear what political party they represent so you can choose to hire them or not. To avoid a potential lawsuit or the candidate making a stink on social media, don’t ask anything about political affiliations.
3. “How do you feel about Obamacare?”
This is one of the hottest issues of the election. It’s also a much debated and heated topic in health care. If you are hiring for a health care position, the candidate might not find this question sketchy and give you their full honest answer. Don’t be an unethical hiring manager and avoid any election issues in interviews.
4. “Will your religious beliefs affect your vote?”
Ouch. This is a double “Big Three” fail. There is no possible way this question can turn out to be legal and it’s down-right wrong for you to ask. Avoid any questions relating to religion in a job interview, no matter what.
5. “Who do you think won the debate last night?”
This question is pretty innocent. The candidate doesn’t have to choose a side and they can be pretty unbiased here. However this kind of small talk question usually leads to a full blown discussion where a candidate can reveal their political side. Not something you want to dive into. Avoid any questions about debates, they get people way too heated.
Talking politics in interviews is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. Don’t risk your job or your company trying to figure out if your candidate wants to, “Believe in America” or move “Forward.” Instead, focus on what traits will make them the right person for the job, even after November 6. As Tammy Gooler Loeb, a career and executive coach in the Boston area said in The Ladder’s blog, “when it comes to your personal politics, it’s best to save that for the voting booth.”We couldn’t agree more.
Does Your State Have Voting Leave Laws?
It’s a well-known fact that federal law protects citizens’ right to vote; however, there is no federal law that mandates employers give employees a specific amount of time off to do so. Many states have taken care of this and instated their own laws. Some states require employees to give reasonable notice of absence to the employer. Also, many state laws require employees to use their available time outside of work hours to cast their votes if there is sufficient time before or after work to get to local polls.
Does your state have time off for voting laws? Find out if you get time off at https://hr.blr.com/state-comparison-charts/Does-My-State-have-Voting-Laws-Map/
Conclusion
Keeping a calm office during the election is going to be hard work but don’t let that affect the culture and environment you have worked hard to create. Speaking of politics and elections, keep this quote by President John F. Kennedy in mind throughout the election:
“I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”
About Hireology
Hireology’s award-winning Selection Management System helps companies organize their hiring process and leverage data to make better hiring decisions. Franchise systems, banks and financial institutions, healthcare systems, dealer networks, and other multi-site operators use Hireology’s web-based Selection ManagerTM to deliver consistent and repeatable hiring decisions in the field-leading to better hiring decisions, lower turnover, and increased profitability per location. For more information, please visit www.Hireology.com.
Top-Bottom Buy-In Can Bolster Benefit Communications
Benefits can play a crucial role in fueling employee engagement, which can in turn lead to better productivity and talent retention.
Unfortunately, even the best benefit communications strategy can miss the mark if it happens infrequently and leaves out management, experts say.
Nowhere is the engagement challenge more evident than in health care benefits, where rising costs have driven many employers to focus their engagement efforts toward wellness and health consumerism, Erin M. O'Connor of Cammack LaRhette Consulting told Human Resource Executive Online.
"People tend to listen to their boss, not necessarily to HR," O'Connor said. "So to get those gains in productivity and reductions in benefits spend, you've got to have engaged managers and business leaders promoting health and well-being."
O'Connor suggests that employers can motivate management to help spread the word about wellness and other benefits by demonstrating how productivity loss and absenteeism -- byproducts of poor health -- can impact individual departments within the company.
While this "trickle-down" method of engagement may take some time, the ultimate result of a more engaged workforce can be a boon for employers, new research suggests.
Employees who are satisfied with their employer-sponsored benefits package are nine times more likely to stick with their current employer, according to a new study by Aflac, reported in Employee Benefit News. In fact, workers ranked benefits above compensation in importance, with 75 percent responding that they'd be at least somewhat likely to take a job with lower pay as long as the benefits were good.
To keep managers and workers aware of robust benefits, employers should focus on constant and consistent communications, according to Jennifer Benz, a benefit communications consultant. Benz notes in a recent CCH online report that social media tools can strengthen an engagement campaign without a major drain on HR's time or budget.
"Reminding employees about benefits once a year is not enough to get them actively engaged in decisions about their health and financial well-being," Benz said. "The key . . . is feeding them bite-sized chunks of information year-round."
Benz said blogs (including micoblogs such as Twitter), podcasts/videos, social networks such as Facebook and web-based forums can provide a way to inform and remind employees about the value of their benefits.