The rampant health problem wellness fails to address

By Jared Bilski

The majority of wellness programs are centered around combating costly health conditions like obesity and smoking. But for whatever reason, the majority of these programs fail to factor in a common problem that can have a disastrous effect on employees’ overall health.

That common health problem: Sleep quality.

76% have problems most days of the week

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Tip Tuesday! Health Reform Questions - Out-of-Pocket Limits for 2015

By Larry Grudzien Attorney-At-Law

Question:  What is the out-of pocket limits for 2015?

Answer: For 2015, please be aware that there will two different out-of-pocket limits.

  

Overall Out-of-Pocket Limits:

  

There is an overall cost-sharing limitation to all non-grandfathered group health plans, as provided in HHS Reg. § 156.130(a); PPACA; Standards Related to Essential Health Benefits, Actuarial Value, and Accreditation, 45 CFR Parts 147, 155, and 156, 78 Fed. Reg. 12834, 12837 (Feb. 25, 2013).

The overall cost-sharing limits for plan years beginning in 2014 are the same as the maximum out-of-pocket expense limits for self-only and family coverage for HSA-compatible high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) for taxable years beginning in 2014 , as provided in PPACA, Pub. L. No. 111-148, § 1302(c)(1)(A) (2010). 

For 2014, these limits are $6,350 for self-only coverage and $12,700 for family coverage. The limits for 2015 are $6,600 for self-only coverage and $13,200 for other than self-only coverage, as provided in PPACA; HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2015, 45 CFR Parts 144, 147, 153, 155, and 156, 79 Fed. Reg. 13743, 13802 (Mar. 11, 2014). 

For a plan year beginning in a calendar year after 2014, the cost-sharing limit for self-only coverage is the amount for self-only coverage for plan years beginning in 2014, increased by an index amount equal to the product of that amount and the "premium adjustment percentage" for the calendar year. For coverage other than self-only coverage, the cost sharing limit for a plan year beginning in a calendar year after 2014 is twice the amount for self-only coverage.  The premium adjustment percentage for a calendar year is the percentage by which the average per capita premium for health insurance coverage in the United States for the preceding calendar year (as estimated by HHS by October 1 of the preceding calendar year) exceeds the average per capita premium for 2013 (as determined by HHS).

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7 questions you must answer before picking a wellness vendor

By Jared Bilski

To get any worthwhile results from a wellness program, it’s virtually impossible to go it alone. But with so many wellness vendors out there, picking the right one can be a daunting task.

So how do employers find the right wellness vendor for their unique company needs?
Before employers begin searching for specific wellness vendors, HR should have detailed answers to the following questions, courtesy of Benefitspro‘s Joe Miller.

Company objectives

1. What is your company hoping to accomplish with this wellness program?

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Good news: ACA deductible cap is eliminated

By Tim Gould

President Obama just signed a law that will give certain employers and insurers more room to maneuver when designing high-deductible and consumer-driven health plans — killing a health reform rule that limited such flexibility.  

In an effort to keep plans affordable, Obamacare placed a cap on the deductibles of health plans offered in the small group market. The cap was set at $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families.

The problem: The cap was too low to keep plans … well … affordable.

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How the best companies hold the line on health plan costs

By Christain Schappel

What’s the prescription for bringing healthcare costs under control? It’s not a single cure-all, but rather a series of medications designed to work together to keep your health plan costs from crippling you. 

Unfortunately, there’s no singular magic elixir to cure what ails your health plan: rapidly increasing costs.

The good news, however, is a treatment regimen does exist that can keep cost increases closer to inflation than what they typically have been for most companies: four to five times inflation.

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Tip Tuesday! What Makes Wellness Work?

By Lisa Weston

More than 75 cents of every health care dollar spent in the United States goes toward treating chronic diseases such as arthritis, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because these conditions are the No. 1 cause of death and disability, and consequently the primary factor in rising health care costs, moving toward prevention-based care will be the key that helps both employers and employees pull health care costs back from the edge of crisis over the long term.

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Why superstars really matter — and should you pay bad employees to quit?

By Tim Gould

We’ve got proof: Superstar employees not only perform spectacularly on their own, they make everyone around them better.  

At least that’s the conclusion drawn in a recent paper from the National Bureau of Economic research entitled Why Stars Matter.

The research centered around university academic departments. Productivity was measured by the number of papers published, and the number of times those papers were cited in other academic literature.

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IRS clears up murky FSA rule: What you need to tell employees now

By Christian Schappel

The IRS finally caved and let health flexible spending account (FSA) holders carry over some funds from year to year. But that allowance opened up a whole other can of worms. 

The question the IRS’s new FSA rules have created: Can carrying over FSA funds prevent an individual from participating in a health flexible spending (HSA) account?
Answer: Yes.

The only exception: If your cafeteria plan offers an HSA-compatible health FSA, which tend to cover dental, vision and some preventive care and pharmaceutical expenses not covered under a health insurance plan.

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Cue the music! How tunes enhance daily life

By UHC

Music can set the beat for some of life's biggest and best moments.

But, you can also use it as a tool to enrich your everyday rhythms. No matter your preferred soundtrack — classical, country, folk or funk — tuning in could improve your well-being.

Hit 'play' to win
Here are just four ways you can channel the power of music to have a healthy effect on your life:

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The 5 most influential FMLA rulings in recent memory

By Jared Bilski

Court interpretations of the FMLA will ultimately dictate how employers are supposed to handle their administration of the law. To that end, here are the most influential FMLA rulings in recent memory.

1. Employees can choose when not to use FMLA

Escriba v. Poultry Farms. In this case, an employee with a longstanding history of FMLA usage specifically told her direct supervisor that she didn’t want upcoming absences to care for her father to be counted as FMLA leave. Instead she wanted them to count as vacation time. So she went on vacation and didn’t return until well after her scheduled return date. She was fired as a result. The employee then filed an FMLA retaliation claim. She said her leave clearly triggered FMLA protections.
What the court ruled:

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Stress solutions: 3 paths to a happier heart

By Michael W. Rosen, M.D., and Arleen Fitzgerald, L.I.C.W.

Do you often wish you felt calmer and less frazzled? If so, that's probably your heart's desire, too.

When stress goes unchecked, it can take a toll on your heart health. That may include raising your risk of high blood pressure, a heart attack or other problems.

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Tip Tuesday! How to calculate employer health care responsibilities

By Ken Tysiac

In compliance with new health care employer responsibility regulations, two halves indeed equal a whole for employers when they determine their number of full-time employees.

To determine whether a business is subject to the employer mandate penalty under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), P.L. 111-148, the business must determine the number of its full-time employees, which includes its full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). An employer’s FTEs are based on the hours worked by its part-time workers. The number of an employer’s FTEs for a month is the total part-time employee hours for the month divided by 120.


In 2015, to avoid paying the employer mandate penalty, employers with 100 or more full-time employees are required to offer health care coverage to employees that provides minimum value and is affordable. Employers with 50 to 99 full-time employees can certify to the IRS their employer size and certain other items to delay application of the rule until 2016.

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5 onboarding tactics that get long-term results

By Robert Cordray

According to recent statistics furnished by Monster.com, 30% of external new hires turn over within the first two years of employment. Other organizations, such as the Society for Human Resources Management, report that turnover during the first 18 months of employment can be as much as 50%. As more and more Millennials, who are known to change jobs frequently, enter the workforce, the trend toward shorter employee retention is likely to continue — making the onboarding process more critical than ever.

For those organizations looking to boost employee retention through more effective onboarding, here’s a look at some successful and innovative tactics that have long-term results.

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Exercise? Who, me? 8 strategies for making the leap

By Karis Day

You might not think of yourself as an athlete. But, given the chance, your body may be able to do things you never dreamed of.

And, you don't have to be sporty or skilled to reap the impressive benefits of regular exercise. They're right there for the taking — including more energy, better health and help managing stress.

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Honey and Cinnamon Benefits and Natural Cures

By Josh Axe and Eric Zielinski

Could the honey and cinnamon cure work for you? Cinnamon has been used by Chinese and Ayurvedic folk medicine for over 2,000 years and honey also has a rich history dating back to ancient Greek, Roman, Vedic, and Egyptian texts.

The healing properties of honey were even referenced by Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) and Aristoxenus (320 BC). Countless stories from people being cured from everything from diabetes (type 2) to acne have filled the natural health testimonials since honey and cinnamon were first discovered.

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Tip Tuesday! The pros and cons of refusing to hire smokers

By Tim Gould

Now that Obamacare has kicked in, more and more companies are refusing to hire people who smoke. But some legal dangers do remain.  

As we pointed out in a post in February 2013, there’s no federal law that protects smokers or entitles them to equal protections when it comes to hiring, promotions, etc. That’s because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn’t recognize smokers as a protected class.

And Fisher & Phillips attorney Kytle Frye, writing on the Becker’s Hospital Review website, points out that the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act actually recognizes the increased healthcare costs associated with smoking employees by allowing insurers to raise smokers’ insurance premiums up to 50 percent over those paid by non-smokers.

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