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Dependent Coverage Under New Jersey Plans
by Vince Dekker
BSG® Manager of Contracts, Compliance & Research
EXCERPT: "Recently, New Jersey legislators passed a law that
requires insured plans to offer continued coverage to certain children
under age 30 who would otherwise lose coverage due to an age limit under
a group health plan. The NJ law (P.L. 2005, c 375) first applies to NJ
plans when they are issued/renewed in NJ on or after May 12, 2006.
Employers with NJ-based plans that renew on January 1 should be aware
that there is a Special Phase-in Enrollment Period that actually must be
addressed now."
Full Article
May 2006—The Benefit
Services Group, Inc.
Financial Incentives Alone Unlikely to Curb Health Care Costs, Watson
Wyatt Says
EXCERPT: "It’s up to employers to understand the varying needs of
employees and to respond with targeted consumerism — an approach that
uses different strategies to engage different segments of the population
covered by health benefit plans."
Full Article
April 24, 2006—Watson
Wyatt Worldwide
Being Healthy May Be its Own Reward, But a Little Cash Can Also Help
Keep Workers Fit
EXCERPT: "The problem with merely offering wellness programs is that the
employees who typically participate are those who are already healthy,
says Bruce Kelley, a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
Employees who are obese or who smoke often do not want to get a health
risk assessment only to be told that they have to change their
lifestyles. But these are the very employees that companies most want to
reach. They are key to reducing the company’s health care costs. And
that’s where the incentives come in, Kelley says."
Full Article
September 2005—Workforce
Management (One-time registration required)
Health Care Education Lacking at Work: Study
EXCERPT: "Nearly three-quarters of employers believe that their
employees can become better health care consumers through
employer-sponsored education, access to provider cost and quality
information, and tools that help employees select the appropriate plan,
according to a United Benefits Advisors survey of 1,674 employers
representing a cross section of American business. But while most of the
surveyed employers said they would like to provide their employees with
access to online tools that will enable them to become better health
care consumers, only about 5% of them currently do."
Full Article
May 16, 2006—Business
Insurance
Sereboff: ERISA Subrogation Regains Life After Great-West
EXCERPT: "The Supreme Court’s unanimous May 15, 2006 decision in
Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., clarifies the
subrogation and reimbursement landscape for ERISA benefit plans that has
been in flux for the four years since Great-West Life & Annuity
Insurance Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204 (2002). In Sereboff,
the Supreme Court renewed the life of plan subrogation and recoupment
provisions by sustaining a plan’s right to subrogation as equitable
relief under § 502(a)(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), codified at 29 U.S.C. §
1132(a)(3), at least where there is an identifiable, traceable res that
the plan seeks to recover."
Full Article
May 2006—Thompson
Hine LLP
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Health Care Consumer
Mis-knowledge
“Consumers
can guess the price of a Honda Accord within $300 and a roundtrip ticket
within $37 but they're off by $8,100 for a four-day hospital
stay.”
“63%
percent don't know the treatment costs until the medical bill arrives;
10% never know the cost.”
“The
vast majority believe the cost of outpatient procedures and a 24-hour
hospital stay vary by less than 20% based on location, when in fact they
can vary up to 60%.”
Source:
Great-West
Healthcare
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