Most health insurers plan to continue offering free preventative care services despite a federal judge having imposed a nationwide injunction on an Affordable Care Act requirement that these services are covered with no out-of-pocket costs on the part of patients, according to a letter by industry trade groups. With concern growing that this important part…
With more and more California businesses being forced to go to the California FAIR Plan for their coverage, the market of last resort has moved to increase its commercial property coverage limits significantly. This should bring a semblance of relief to companies located in wildfire-prone areas, who have seen their commercial property insurance non-renewed and…
A new report has found that small businesses that purchase their group health insurance online or through payroll vendors saw the largest premium hikes in 2022, significantly higher than those that went through brokers. Overall rates for employers with 10 or fewer employees saw their family plan health insurance premiums jump 12% from 2021, compared…
Material handling accidents account for thousands of injuries and a number of deaths each year on construction sites. They are one of the top injuries in the construction trade and can result in serious injuries and death depending on the material, the weight of the load, and the distance it falls. These injuries lead to…
Both employers and employees have much to gain from a solid voluntary benefits program. For employees, being able to enroll in an insurance product through a workplace voluntary benefits program offers them the advantage of group pricing, the convenience of paying through payroll deduction, and perhaps access to insurance that would be difficult to get…
QR codes — short for Quick Response codes — are everywhere these days, on the tables at restaurants, on posters, print and electronic advertising, and even during TV programming and commercials. By training your smartphone camera on one, you’ll get a prompt to click to open a web page, typically one for the company behind…
After the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed new rules aimed at streamlining the prior approval process for most health plans in the U.S., a number of the country’s largest insurers announced their own steps to improve the process. UnitedHealthcare announced in late March that it would cut the use of prior authorizations by…
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued new guidance on the federal Family Medical Leave Act that has upended the notion of what qualifies as leave under the statute. Its Wage and Hour Division in February issued a guidance letter noting that employees with a serious illness may use intermittent leave under the FMLA to…
A recent decision by a federal judge in Texas to issue an injunction on a pivotal part of the Affordable Care Act requiring insurers to offer certain types of free preventative care, has raised concerns that some health plans will stop paying for these services. However, since most employer-sponsored plans are on annual contracts, the…
With more and more California businesses being forced to go to the California FAIR Plan for their coverage, the market of last resort has moved to increase its commercial property coverage limits significantly. This should bring a semblance of relief to companies located in wildfire-prone areas, who have seen their commercial property insurance non-renewed and…