Employee Wellness is vital for a company’s success; not only can this help save you costs in the long-run, but it can also help build the foundation for a strong company culture. Employee Wellness programs show you care about your employee’s mental and physical health in and outside of the workday. While there isn’t ‘one correct way’ of building an employee wellness program, we can offer some insight into what a successful program looks like. Tips for Developing a Successful Employee Wellness Program: Survey Your Employees: You don’t want to spend a significant amount of time creating a wellness program only to realize that your employees
Taxpayers Pay Back Subsidies
Covered California and the Affordable Care Act are health reform initiatives meant to help Americans get access to quality and affordable medical benefits. One of the primary benefits of these initiatives is the ability to receive subsidies to help reduce the costs of monthly healthcare premiums. However, according California Healthline and a recent study by H&R Block, nearly two-thirds of taxpayers who received a subsidy on the Covered California exchange are now having to repay taxes to the federal government. Individuals who were granted too big of a subsidy had to repay about $729 on average compared to those who were given too little of
Covered California for Small Business
SHOP, also known as the Small Business Health Options Program, is getting a “rebrand” on the Covered California website. The new name of the program for small business will be called Covered California for Small Business. According to some officials, the naming and marketing of the program was not as straightforward as other programs. Therefore, they are hoping that this rebrand will market to a broader audience and entice more businesses to enroll in coverage. About 2,289 small businesses are currently enrolled in Covered California for Small Business. One of the primary benefits of a small business enrolling in a Covered California health plan is the tax credits.
Prescription Drug Cap
About 7 out of 10 or 70% of Americans take prescription drugs, which is why the discussions surrounding prescription drug costs are so important. Covered California officials recently proposed a limit on drug costs for consumers who have specialty prescriptions and purchase a 2016 health plan.Their goal is to give these individuals accessible and affordable coverage for their prescriptions. The proposal would: Place certain drugs in pricing tiers Require health plans to publish pricing information about the prescriptions online Mandate that there must be at least one drug for a particular condition in a lower tier For example, this would mean that the cost of
Covered California Behind on Enrollments
Since the initial launch of Covered California, nearly 1.4 million people have enrolled in the exchange (the goal set by Executive Director Peter Lee was 1.7 million enrollments). Still, there have been a few setbacks that have included special enrollment periods for the past two years to encourage last minute coverage. While last year’s special enrollment period was designed to get last minute signups because of the initial enrollment difficulties, the current special enrollment period is designed to help those who were “unaware of the tax penalty” receive coverage. Thus far, 18,000 people have signed up since the special enrollment period opened February 23rd. However,
What You Need to Know for Special Enrollment
As many of you already know, there is a tax penalty for being uninsured that was supposed to go into effect in 2015. However, Covered California is now extending the deadline to enroll in coverage for people who did not know or realize they would be penalized in 2015 for being uninsured. Therefore, California is allowing consumers to apply for health insurance thru April 30, 2015 during the “Special Enrollment” period only if they they can prove that they did not realize there was a penalty. How do you prove that you were unaware of the penalty? Consumers have to select “Informed of Tax Penalty Risk”
Covered California Does Not Hit Goal of 1.7 Million Enrollments
As of February 17, 2015, Covered California executives released a statement that they may consider expanding the enrollment deadline for people who did not purchase 2015 insurance plans. This comes shortly after they did not hit their goal of 1.7 million sign ups (they were short by 300,000 according to ABC 7 News). However, according to the executives, the consideration is so that they can help individuals avoid the tax penalty. The government run exchange (healthcare.gov) is also contemplating extending the enrollment period. Then the question remains: Are people choosing not to enroll because of the issues with Covered California plans including narrow provider networks, a shortage of
Why Healthcare Costs May Be Higher Than You Thought
While many Americans who enrolled in healthcare under the exchange will not see increases in premiums, there will be increases in deductibles. A deductible is a specified amount you have to spend to receive full healthcare benefits. Many Americans spend hundreds of dollars a month on healthcare premiums and then have to pay the full price for medical visits until they reach their deductible when the benefits actually kick in. Why is this an issue? The problem is that the majority of plans sold on the exchange are Bronze and Silver plans (plans with higher deductibles and lower monthly premiums). Bronze plans are the
Kaiser Partners with Target
While Target is commonly known to offer certain medical and optical benefits, their recent partnership with Kaiser is somewhat of a surprise. Kaiser will begin opening smaller sized medical clinics in certain Target locations in Southern California. Just last week, there were three Kaiser locations that opened in Vista, Fontana, and San Diego. What does this mean for healthcare? Kaiser is known for its size and reputation. While expanding into retail stores, it could mean that this is the start of a new chapter for the way healthcare is delivered to patients. Kaiser’s approach could lead to an increased dependence on “telehealth” technology where people don’t
Covered California Outpaces Last Year’s Sign Ups
On November 15th, the Covered California open enrollment period kicked off. After website glitches and high call volumes last year, the Covered California team had new goals and hopes for this year. One of the primary goals was to decrease call abandonment in the customer call center. Last year, three out of every ten calls were dropped so the exchange had a goal of dropping less than 3% of calls. However, the abandon rate is still something they are struggling with as consumers seek answers to password resets, re-enrollment questions, ongoing open enrollment inquiries, and changes in their Medi-Cal status. Covered California Director Peter Lee