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Medicare, the government-funded health insurance program for older Americans, has become increasingly difficult to navigate due to the involvement of private insurers. When enrolling in Medicare, it is important to review the pros and cons of the available plans, considering both current and future healthcare needs. There are two primary choices: original Medicare, provided by the federal government, and Medicare Advantage, provided by private insurance companies. Original Medicare requires a medigap supplemental insurance plan to cover costs not included in the program, while Medicare Advantage plans often have lower premiums but require the use of in-network providers. It is crucial to understand the coverage and network of a plan before signing up, and to review the plan annually to ensure it still meets your needs. Additionally, choosing a medigap plan should be seen as a long-term commitment, as switching plans may result in higher premiums or denial of coverage. Library patrons can seek assistance from State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) or licensed Medicare insurance agents to help navigate the Medicare system. Veterans and federal government retirees have specific coverage options through TRICARE and the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program, respectively. [Extracted from the article]

A survey conducted by Prinova found that health claims on food and beverage packaging strongly influence younger consumers, with 72% of respondents reporting that they are more likely to buy a product if it mentions a health benefit. This percentage rises to 87% among those aged 18 to 24. The most influential health claims were related to low-sugar/sugar-free, weight management, and energy support. Another study by Verb Biotics revealed that many consumers struggle with gut and mental health but are unsure of how to address these concerns effectively. The study emphasized the need for evidence-based information and supplements that offer greater efficacy and benefits. Ritual's Sleep BioSeries Melatonin was found to support sleep-wake patterns, reducing the time to fall asleep by 43% and promoting a deeper sleep. MegaFood has launched a line of Superfood Mushroom supplements made with 100% fruiting body mushrooms. Olly has introduced Mellow Menopause, a supplement designed to manage menopause symptoms, and has implemented a menopause policy to support employees. The article also mentions the lack of progress in achieving gender parity in corporate leadership, the launch of Seed's microbiome products in Target stores, Airborne's new immune support formula, and GOED's annual report on the global omega-3 ingredient market. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the generation gap and wellness gap between older generations and Gen Z employees in the workplace. It highlights the different expectations and priorities of Gen Z, such as a focus on mental health and work-life balance. Older managers often label Gen Z as entitled or hypersensitive, but some companies are responding by providing mental health benefits. The article suggests that understanding and working with Gen Z's approach to workplace wellness can benefit everyone, and provides tips for managers, such as delivering feedback effectively and involving Gen Z in setting the tone of the workplace. [Extracted from the article]

The article addresses concerns about the legality and safety of drug importation into the U.S., particularly for cancer care and employer health benefit plans. It highlights the ethical and legal responsibilities of medical practices and employers in ensuring drug safety and compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards.

Covid-19 exposed wide inequities in health in the United States and around the world. But health disparities persisted long before the pandemic. In this article the authors explain why businesses should help find solutions to health inequities and showcase companies innovating in this space. The article outlines four opportunities for companies. They can optimize benefits and health plan offerings, address social determinants of health, expand primary care and mental health access through virtual care and community partnerships, and make benefits and health care easy to navigate. To improve health equity among their employees and communities, businesses will need to invest in a multiyear effort and equip themselves with the right leadership, resources, and processes. Key steps for getting started include building a business case for investments, collecting data to understand specific problems, identifying an initial population to focus on, engaging a broad group of stakeholders to design solutions, and measuring progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the increased scrutiny that rebate contracting in the pharmaceutical industry is facing from Congress, regulators, and private litigants. While rebates are intended to lower prices and out-of-pocket costs for consumers, critics argue that they may actually result in higher prices. The article examines the implications of this scrutiny for the pharmaceutical industry and consumers, including potential litigation and regulatory challenges. It also discusses the economic impact of rebate contracting, with mixed research findings on its competitive effects and the potential consequences of regulating rebates. The article highlights court cases that have challenged rebate contracts in the pharmaceutical industry, emphasizing the importance of considering the specific facts of each case and warns against making blanket policies or rulings that could hinder contracting practices that benefit consumers. Ongoing litigation and enforcement actions related to rebate practices are also mentioned, indicating that further challenges may arise in the future. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on improving health care equity by providing culturally sensitive care for displaced persons, including refugees, immigrants, and migrants. It emphasizes the importance of treating patients with dignity and respect, tailored to their diverse cultural backgrounds. Key barriers to health care access for these populations are identified, such as language barriers, lack of health insurance, and unfamiliarity with the U.S. health care system.

Contrary to what many people think, virtual health care, also known as telemedicine or telehealth, is much more than a cheap digital knockoff of in-person care. When used appropriately, it improves patient health, reduces costs, and makes care more equitable and accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Its use has soared during the Covid era—and the authors argue that providers around the world should aggressively strive to tap its full potential even after the pandemic abates. Pearl and Wayling take readers inside Kaiser Permanente and Intermountain Healthcare, two of telehealth’s earliest adopters and most effective users in the United States. They show how telehealth can reduce expensive and unnecessary trips to the ER, reduce America’s chronic-disease crisis, address disparities in care, make specialty care faster and more efficient, and provide access to the best doctors. And they outline what’s needed to spur adoption to a fully telehealth-driven system. Employers, who currently provide health insurance coverage to nearly half the U.S. population, could drive such a change by banding together and designing new reimbursement and care delivery approaches. The resulting savings could amount to tens of billions of dollars a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the growing concern among medical practices, patients, and advocacy organizations regarding the intrusion of alternate funding programs (AFPs) that deny or delay access to specialty drugs for self-insured employers, leading to detrimental impacts on vulnerable patients. Topics include the aggressive recruitment tactics of AFPs, the lack of transparency about drug coverage denials.

According to Mercer's 2024 Global Talent Trends Study, 40% of U.S. workers believe that work is fundamentally broken, with 1 in 5 wishing they didn't have to work at all. Employees feel that their productivity is being drained by too much busy work and not enough time to focus, as well as ineffective organizational structures, unsustainable workloads, and a desire for greater direction and feedback. The study suggests that organizations should focus on driving human-centric productivity, anchoring to trust and equity, boosting the corporate immune system, and cultivating a digital-first culture to unlock human potential in a machine-augmented world. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses strategies for promoting employee wellness in the modern work environment. It emphasizes the importance of employee health and well-being for organizational success. The article explores three key areas: maximizing Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), utilizing health insurance benefits, and tapping into community health resources. It provides specific recommendations for each area, such as increasing awareness and accessibility of EAP services, encouraging the use of preventive health services offered by health insurance, and forging partnerships with local gyms and wellness centers. The article concludes by highlighting the significance of a holistic approach to employee wellness in creating a thriving organizational culture. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES SINCE ARRIVING ON OUR SHORES THIS YEAR, THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has eroded Americans' confidence in the ability of the government to perform its most basic functions. For instance, Brooklyn-based efforts have been lauded for the cross-class mingling among people like tech workers and out-of-work restaurant workers that has come to define care networks in gentrified neighborhoods. Some labor federations, like the Knights of Labor, formed lodge-style arrangements to generate solidarity among workers as they struggled against Gilded Age robber barons and agricultural monopolists. While labor was forced into a defensive crouch, the liberal stewards of the New Deal order increasingly abandoned pro-worker policies for market-friendly ones. [Extracted from the article]

Despite widespread clinical recognition of ABA autism therapy, health plans andinsurers continue to exclude or limit coverage of ABA autism therapy. Despite widespreadclinical recognition of ABA autism treatment therapy,however, many health plans and health insurers continueto exclude or limit coverage of ABA therapy for autism. Tri-Agencies Guidance Applies MHPAEA Parity to ABAAutism Therapy Tri-Agency guidance, enforcement, and judicial precedentincreasingly warn MHPAEA-covered health plans and thosesponsoring and administering them of potential MHPAEAexposures for failing to cover ABA autism therapy inparity with medical/surgical benefits following MHPAEA. [Extracted from the article]

The article suggests the role of employers in extending the life span vision of employees through company-provided health insurance coverage, according to a report released by financial services company Deloitte. Topics discussed are importance of health care as an employee benefit, the need for the private sector to move forward a system that celebrates wellness and illness prevention, and competitive advantage and cost savings from offering wellness benefits.

Adderall has been in short supply in the US for months, forcing many people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to wait days to weeks for their prescriptions to be filled. This waiting period is unacceptable, Dr. Goodman says, since a person with ADHD who can't access their medication can experience challenging symptoms that affect their everyday routine. And because there's still a significant stigma attached to ADHD and ADHD medication like Adderall, it can be more difficult for people to understand that it's not just a productivity drug. [Extracted from the article]

Taub, filling in for a colleague who was on vacation, was thrust into leading logistics at the emergency operations center while also providing HR support to the town's 250 employees, especially those first responders. As the July Fourth parade stepped off in Highland Park, Ill., last year, police officers marched near the front with their very own grand marshal-Vinny Duke, a therapy dog. WORKERS VALUE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT 71% of workers say they believe their employer is more concerned about employees' mental health than in the past. Some employees' problems spill over onto their colleagues, Manning says, such as an abused woman leaving meetings abruptly when her abuser demands she take his calls or a troubled employee verbally lashing out at colleagues. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the results of the imposition of a work requirement for recipients of the Medicaid health insurance program in Arkansas. Topics include the negative social and financial impacts of the loss of health insurance coverage, the lack of employer-provided health insurance, and problems with Medicaid recipients not receiving letters needed to maintain coverage.

The article presents the discussion on rare medicinal mushrooms and discovers plenty of health benefits from these fungal fruits. Topics include population studies show positive associations between mushroom consumption and measures of cognitive health and reduced risk for various cancers; and helpful in the peri-menopausal and menopausal life-stages, reducing low mood and irritability.

But in a 2021 survey by employee-benefits consultant Mercer, just 36% of firms with 500 or more employees offered a retiree health plan, and only 24% made their plans for preMedicare-eligible retirees available to newly hired employees (rather than a closed pool of current and future retirees). Because marketplace-plan premiums are age-related, if you are in your early sixties you can expect a marketplace premium to run at least $1,000 a month if you don't qualify for a premium tax credit, says Pollitz. Employer plans typically come with broader physician networks and lower deductibles than plans in the individual market, and employers usually subsidize a substantial chunk of the premium. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on employers' efforts to control rising healthcare costs, with nearly half expecting costs to exceed budget projections and many adopting more cost-effective plan designs and strategies beyond traditional cost-shifting methods.

LAS VEGAS—Demand for GLP-1s has not slowed, and employers still have not cracked the code on the perfect solution for these medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Color Health rolled out a virtual cancer clinic to support employees and health plan members from early detection through treatment and survivorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premera Blue Cross, a health plan in the Pacific Northwest, has announced that it will no longer offer Medicare Advantage plans starting in 2025. This decision is due to changing market conditions and financial pressures. Premera plans to redirect its resources towards other business lines, such as employer-sponsored health plans, Medicare Supplement plans, and plans offered under the Affordable Care Act. The company will continue to serve its Medicare Supplement members and is committed to supporting its Medicare Advantage members during the transition. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the challenges facing employers and how they are preparing for a 7.8% surge in healthcare costs in 2025. Cited are the partnership of employers covering the 1,000 U.S. dollars per month glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist drugs (GLP-1) with vendors to set standards beyond Food and Drug Administration requirements, areas where employers are looking for reduced spending, and other GLP-1 support program for employers.

Private credit firms, including 26North Partners, are in talks to lend to Alegeus Technologies, a company backed by Vista Equity Partners. A $525 million offering for Alegeus was shelved by Bank of America due to investors' unwillingness to fund a large dividend as part of the deal. This comes as buyout firms are increasingly taking on debt to pay back investors, allowing them to return cash to shareholders amid a slow market for traditional exits. Alegeus' sensitivity to declining interest rates was also a concern for potential investors. [Extracted from the article]

The Peterson Health Technology Institute found that 75% of health plans, employers and health systems have increased digital health budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family premiums in employer-sponsored coverage grew by 7% in 2024, averaging $25,572, according to a new report from KFF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alegeus Technologies, a software firm that focuses on employee health benefits, has faced delays in refinancing its private credit debt. The company's planned $525 million five-year term loan remains in discovery with no update as of Tuesday morning. The delay is attributed to concerns from investors about the declining rate environment and the need for stronger protections against transferring assets. Alegeus could save approximately $75 million with the new loan. The company's loan does not include financial maintenance covenants, but it does have looser restrictions around transferring intellectual property. Moody's Ratings has expressed concern about the company's revenues in a falling rate environment. [Extracted from the article]

According to a study by nonprofit health researcher KFF, companies' premiums for employees' family health insurance in the US increased by 7% to over $25,000 in 2024, more than double the inflation rate. The rising costs of care contributed to this increase, which matches the growth rate from the previous year. The survey also found that employers are becoming more aware of workers' desire for coverage of new weight-loss drugs, but only a small percentage currently offer such coverage. Workers contribute an average of $6,296 a year for family coverage, and some larger employers are implementing programs to reduce the burden of rising healthcare costs on lower-wage workers. [Extracted from the article]

The program offers members access to top quality treatment centers with significant cost savings and zero out-of-pocket costs for employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses could also see tremendous growth in corporate profits, improved workforce participation and productivity, Deloitte's latest analysis found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As employers face rising costs, many are looking to rethink plan designs rather than emphasize shifting expenses to workers, according to WTW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centivo secured $75 million in equity and debt financing to scale its product and technology and ink new partnerships with health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's not a secret that navigating the healthcare system is complicated, and UnitedHealthcare has rolled out an AI tool that aims to make it easier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a survey indicating that employers anticipate an average 8% increase in prescription drug costs for 2025, marking the highest prices in 15 years. Topics include the significant rise in outpatient prescription drug prices, the impact of GLP-1 drugs on cost trends, and the challenges employers face in providing affordable health benefits amid rising medical expenses.

Female employees report health benefits and less exposure to bias by working remotely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent report from the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities examines the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) in children in the United States. The study analyzed healthcare claims data from commercially-insured and Medicaid-insured children from 2015 to 2021. The findings indicate that the proportion of children with administratively reported FASDs was 1.2 per 10,000 for commercially-insured children and 6.1 per 10,000 for Medicaid-insured children. The study suggests that claims-based studies can provide valuable information about children with recognized FASDs, complementing in-person studies. [Extracted from the article]

A patent has been issued to CollectiveHealth Inc. for a machine structured plan description. The patent describes a computer-implemented method for creating and managing benefit plans, such as health plans, travel plans, or investment portfolio plans. The method involves receiving user input to define the parameters of the plan, generating feedback and recommendations based on the input, and approving the final plan. The patent also discusses the use of machine learning models to predict risk levels or cost estimates associated with the plan. This technology could be useful for administrators and sponsors of benefit plans in managing and adjudicating claims. [Extracted from the article]