August 29, 2019
Final 2020 Benefit Payment and Parameters Rule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rule and fact sheet for benefit payment and parameters for 2020. According to CMS, the final rule is intended to reduce fiscal and regulatory burdens associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) ...
August 27, 2019
Health Plan Costs & Premium Increases | 2019 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
Average health plan costs rose a modest 4.6% in 2019, compared to the nearly 10% increase seen in 2018, a ten-year high. Good negotiation is key in securing the best final rates. UBA Partners reported that the average initial or proposed rate increase was 8.6%, with final rate increases ...
August 22, 2019
Top 10 Trends for 2019 | UBA Health Plan Survey
For 14 years, United Benefit Advisors® (UBA) has surveyed thousands of employers across the nation regarding their health plan offerings, including analyzing hundreds of data points related to cost, funding methods, enrollment, plan design, coverage features, wellness, prescription drug ...
August 20, 2019
Dependent Coverage | 2018 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
Dependent enrollment increased significantly, by 35.2%, from 44.3% in 2017 to 59.9% in 2018. This was a reverse of the trend seen in previous years of decreased dependent enrollment. This could signal a trend to watch, as individual or Marketplace premiums rise quickly with the sunset of the ...
August 13, 2019
Deductible Costs | 2018 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
Following initial assessments, median in-network deductibles for single coverage remained steady across all plans for 2018 at $2,000, although median in-network PPO deductibles increased from $1,500 in 2017 to $2,000 in 2018. The overall median out-of-network deductibles for single coverage saw ...
August 10, 2019
Compliance Recap | July 2019
July was a busy month in the employee benefits world. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a notice that expands the list of preventive care benefits a high deductible health plan can provide without a deductible or with a deductible below the annual minimum deductible. The IRS also ...
August 6, 2019
Enrollment by Plan Type by Region | 2018 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
PPO plans have the greatest enrollment in the Central U.S. (beating out the West region from 2017, which saw a surprising shift by employees to CDHP plans this year). The Northeast continues to have the lowest enrollment in PPO plans. After several years of decreases, HMO enrollment is on the ...
July 23, 2019
New HDHP Preventive Care Benefits
In response to the President’s Executive Order 13877 “Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First,” the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2019-45 to expand the list of preventive care benefits that a high deductible health plan (HDHP) can ...
July 16, 2019
Plan Type by Region | 2018 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
When looking at plans by region, PPO plans are most prevalent in the Central U.S., however they generally dominate nationwide, except in the Northeast where CDHPs are most prevalent. As a member of United Benefit Advisors, we can provide you with data from the nation’s most comprehensive ...
July 9, 2019
Costs by Organization Size | 2018 UBA Health Plan Survey Trends
Generally, larger groups (those with 200 to 1,000+ employees) pay more than average per employee due to more generous benefit levels. Despite these employers’ ability to negotiate better rates (and the fact that, unlike small groups, they are not required to comply with age and community ...
