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Looking Back at the Year and Forward to Family Benefits

… COVID-19 and are rising to the occasion to improve racial equality. Shifting daily operational policies, implementing paid leave benefits, all while having difficult conversations about racism, has not been easy. Still, I truly believe the hard work will yield great results for years to come. As we move into employee benefits open enrollment season and decisions are being made for the year ahead, human resources leaders should do an audit and proactively make enhancements to their family benefits packages. Here are three questions to consider: Does your program address racial disparities in maternity support? A tough but important question …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/looking-back-at-the-year-and-forward-to-family-benefits/

Harris Moves Healthcare Politics to the Left

Viewpoints from Craig Hasday Kamala Harris retracted her support for Medicare for All during her recent presidential election campaign – but she is definitely left-leaning. She had been a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, but the headwinds were too fierce. Now, Vice Presidential Candidate Harris has a new opportunity to move healthcare even further to the left than Biden’s public option. In addition to advocating single-payer, Harris had suggested that the government actually set drug prices. The lobbyists are pulling out their big guns. Consolidation is moving quickly in this high-stakes game. Providers …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/harris-moves-healthcare-politics-to-the-left/

Stealing the Show: Host Effective Open Enrollment Presentations

… stand in front of employees and gauge their reactions – read the room, if you will – but this year may be different. So how do you respond? Fortunately, it’s a topic I, along with my colleague and EPIC National Learning & Development Director, Kate Tabony Rose, spoke about at the recent “Employee Benefits University” event held for EPIC account management teams. Our guidance is centered around the three key phases of any presentation: Prepare – how you approach the presentation Design – building out the presentation Deliver – executing the presentation Prepare Before you deliver the presentation, the work ahead of you may seem …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/stealing-the-show-host-effective-open-enrollment-presentations/

What’s on Employers’ Minds...

… along to our employees, knowing plan costs in 2020 typically ran way under budget? This is a challenging question that largely hinges upon how far under budget costs ran, the economic condition of the client, and the risk tolerance given uncertain 2021 plan costs. Are there non-intrusive coverages or benefits we can introduce to employees at little to no cost that are simple to implement remotely? Things like voluntary benefits, technology-based medical services and previously overlooked state mandates/plan enhancements are front-of-mind. Where can we extract savings with little pain to participants? Pharmacy and dental are …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/whats-on-employers-minds/

Executive Orders Aimed at Drug Costs Miss the Mark

Viewpoints from Craig Hasday Trying to regain momentum in the election polls, President Trump released four executive orders that he claims will “completely restructure” the prescription drug market. However, most analysts agree that there is not much new and nothing revolutionary in these orders. The most potentially impactful of these orders is a rehash from a prior Presidential Blueprint in May 2018. One order requires middlemen to pass along all discounts received to Medicare patients. Good idea, except for the provision that requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to confirm the order will not …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/executive-orders-aimed-at-drug-costs-miss-the-mark/

Community Wellness: Considering Paid Sick Leave

See more of our COVID-19 employer resources for employee benefits and risk management on the EPIC dedicated coronavirus webpage Viewpoints from Claire Letourneau This summer, I look around and see a strange battle with community wellness playing out. Often misunderstood or ignored, the heart of community wellness is doing something likely to be good for you, but is definitely good for those around you. It’s debatable whether wearing a mask helps to protect you from coronavirus, but it is indisputable that it will keep those around you safer. I just had my birthday (don’t all send me …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/community-wellness-considering-paid-sick-leave/

Health Insurers Are Making a Lot of Money – Will You Get Your Share?

Viewpoints from Craig Hasday It was no surprise to me that UnitedHealth Group (UHG) reported a second-quarter surge in earnings for 2020. During the onset of the pandemic lockdown, non-COVID-19 medical care screeched to a halt. UHG’s earnings from operations doubled to $9.2 billion on $62.1 billion of reported revenue for the three months ending on June 30. Margins increased to 10.7% up from 5.4% in Q2 2019 and 5.2% in Q1 2020. Of particular interest to me were the reported enrollment statistics. Despite historic unemployment, domestic covered lives decreased by …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/health-insurers-are-making-a-lot-of-money-will-you-get-your-share/

Managing Pharmacy Costs Is Key for Employers

Viewpoints from Briana Loff Every year, Express Scripts (ESI), one of the nation’s top leading pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), releases its annual drug trend report. Their report for 2019 analyzed costs and spending for over 33.6 million members currently enrolled in one of their drug plans. Express Scripts noted this is the third year in a row they’ve been able to keep drug spend under 3%, which is a huge deal. The top cost drivers for 2019? Inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, which drove 43.7% of spending. To give you some reference, diabetes …

https://www.epicbrokers.com/insights/managing-pharmacy-costs-is-key-for-employers/