by Mike Barrett | May 15, 2014 | General Health, Healthcare Reform
That is the conundrum now over Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It appears Americans are coalescing around the idea of fixing or repairing the unpopular parts of ACA rather than repealing it. So far, the law has been rolled out with the following popular...
by Mike Barrett | Mar 26, 2014 | Employer Issues, Healthcare Issues, Medicare Medicaid
There are many opinions about Medicaid expansion and my post is opinion free. Employers across all sectors of the economy are likely to have Medicaid eligible employees/dependents in their population. Many do not know they are Medicaid eligible and some may be on the...
by Mike Barrett | Mar 20, 2014 | Employer Issues, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Issues, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs
Some insurance policies remind me of pay-day lending. People are strapped for cash and prescriptions are expensive. So, we buy insurance policies with “baked-in” prescription co-pay plans. Is it efficient? NO. Is it expensive? YES! It is like pay day lending. You...
by Mike Barrett | Mar 6, 2014 | Employer Issues, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform
In the coming days, HHS will announce another change in the health care roll out. This time, they are going to allow carriers to keep and issue policies that do not meet ACA guidelines. This adds to the recent pushback on the employer mandate to 50-100 employee...
by Mike Barrett | Dec 18, 2013 | Employer Issues, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Reform
Do you ever wonder what goes on behind closed doors between president Obama and insurance company executives? I sure do. We’ve all had to work with people we don’t like or organizations we don’t align with philosophically at some point. It happens....