Open enrollment season for health insurance has come to Pennsylvania and the state’s insurance regulators are urging consumers to weigh their options before making any decisions on coverage. Insurance Commissioner Mike Consedine released a statement yesterday in which he outlined the benefits of evaluating multiple insurance policies and state-run programs. Policies from other insurance companies may be more beneficial for a person’s needs than those offered by their current insurer. Keeping an eye out for such policies can net significant savings. Some employers may begin offering a wide variety of…
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Enrollment rate for employer offered health insurance plans is on the rise, according to Mercer
Despite reports that employers will be making cuts to the health care benefits they offer to workers as the Affordable Care Act becomes fully established in 2014, Mercer, an acclaimed consulting firm based in New York, says that quite the opposite will happen. According to Mercer, enrollment in health insurance plans offered by employers is increasing. The consulting firm surveyed a wealth of companies throughout the nation and found that the vast majority of them were bent on continuing to provide their workers with health care benefits. According to Mercer’s…
Read MoreS.C. Budget and Control Board raises rates on public employee health insurance.
The South Carolina Budget and Control Board has voted to increase the premiums of the state-run health insurance program that offers coverage to public employees. The board voted Tuesday to raise the rates of the program by 4.5% total which will be put into effect at the beginning of next year. More than 400,000 state employees are covered by the program as well as 100,000 retirees. The vote has drawn some criticism from state workers who argue that the increase is unjustifiable. Employees of the state say that they had…
Read MoreReport shows workplace disability insurance protects workers and saves taxpayers
A study commissioned by Unum, the leader in employee benefits, and performed by Charles River Associates, has shown that group disability insurance protects up to half a million families from poverty, and directly saves taxpayers and the government up to an estimated $4.5 billion every year. According to The Wharton School emeritus professor David F. Babbel, who is the Charles River Associates leader of the Insurance Economics Practice, the study “quantifies the immense economic value financial protection products such as disability, life and long term care insurance provide American workers.”…
Read MoreCalifornia small group health options narrow for employees
Many California employers are making cuts to the health care providers that are listed with their insurance providers. Companies are attempting the stymie rising insurance premiums as their insurers attempt to mitigate the growing costs of medical care. Many are unwilling to outright discontinue their offering of medical benefits, however, and are opting instead for smaller scale networks that offer limited choices in terms of medical providers. This increasingly popular trend is netting some companies as much as a 25% saving in insurance costs. Nearly 21 million people are a…
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