Medicare News
If You Have Employees Who Are Turning 65 And Confused About Medicare Advantage, This Article Will Help Them
With more and more folks remaining in the workforce past age 65, we are often asked by clients to help explain Medicare eligibility and options to those employees on the cusp of turning 65. This article from Kaiser Health News (reprinted with permission) provides...
MEDICARE PANIC SETTING IN AS EMPLOYEES APPROACH 65th BIRTHDAY??? LET’S CLEAR UP THE CONFUSION ABOUT INITIAL ENROLLMENT
Can’t tell you how many calls and emails we get from panic-stricken employees nearing that magic 65th birthday and Medicare eligibility. It happens a lot. A whole lot. Some folks think if they don’t sign up three months before they turn 65 they’ll be in trouble....
Using An Old Opening Joke Line To Illustrate Costs In Healthcare
We have all heard jokes that begin with "Three guys walk into a bar...." I thought it might make sense to use that model to explain why "referenced-based pricing" and general consumer awareness in healthcare are important to consider. Here goes: Three guys walk into a...
Definition of Predicament: People Who Don’t Have Access to Employer Coverage, Aren’t Medicare Eligible, and Don’t Qualify for Subsidies
Yes, this is a bit anecdotal. Nevertheless, I think it’s worth reporting and some may find it interesting. First, recently our team managed the annual open enrollment process for the group health plan of one of our employer clients. After a quick but thoughtful...
The HHS Move to Curtail the Availability of Short Term Health Coverage Will Hurt Consumers In Need of an Affordable Bridge To Other Coverage……
………Like Medicare or Other Employer-Sponsored Coverage. Yesterday the Obama Administration and HHS announced they were significantly curtailing the availability and use of short-term health insurance. Their reasons? Not exactly sure. Maybe it’s due to the myriad of...
“Dear Employer” Letter from Medicare (Part 2) – Compliance Overview
The CMS Data Match program determines whether an employer-sponsored group health plan has the responsibility for paying health care claims before Medicare. As discussed in last week's post, with the number of workers age 65 and over steadily increasing, many employers...
Letters From CMS (Medicare) to Employers Regarding Group Health Plan Reporting Are Causing Some Confusion
Many employers are receiving letters from CMS (Medicare) requesting information and it’s causing some confusion. The actual title of the letter reads “Requirement to Submit the Group Health Plan Report for the IRS/SSA/CMS Data Project”. Here’s an overview that may...
If You Want A Pragmatic Understanding of the Opioid Epidemic You May Want to Listen to This
This post follows up on last week’s primer on how abuse of prescription pain medications has led to what’s now recognized as a true national crisis. The new podcast Embedded provides a riveting inside look at how the use of one particularly powerful prescription...
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