BBG Two Minute Blog
Ohio’s Health Co-op (In-Health) Shut Down
In-Health, the Ohio health insurance Co-op established as a part of ACA, is shutting down. Here's an explanation of the co-op program. HCR Consumer Operated and Orientated Plan CO OP Program. Although no BBG client is insured by In-Health, we wanted to let you know...
“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...
In Case You Missed It – HHS Has Again Extended the Small Group “Keep Your Plan” Provision of the Affordable Care Act
We know you get updated on a lot of healthcare issues. Just in case you missed our previous announcement this is worth repeating for those employers in the under 50 segment who have kept pre-ACA plans in place. For our under 50 employee groups, we were ramping up to...
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...
Pain Meds and The Opioid Epidemic: 10 Things To Know
There’s a lot in the news these days about what’s referred to as the opioid crisis or epidemic. Just yesterday for instance -- highly respected healthcare consultant (and close friend) Joe Paduda, fresh off of speaking at a national drug summit in Atlanta, wrote an...
“Who’s Exempt from the ACA Individual Mandate to Have Health Insurance?”
During several recent meetings this question was posed a number of times by curious employees and a few their employers. It seems many folks are still unclear about the exemptions. Many also were unclear on the amount of the penalties. Below is a summary on exemptions...
New Source of Over-Utilization? Study Indicates Use of Retail Clinics May Be Increasing Healthcare Costs
Use of retail clinics leads to higher costs. Seems a bit counter-intuitive doesn’t it? You’d think that the use of retail clinics like those found in some CVS and Kroger stores and typically staffed by nurse practitioners would be apt to lower total costs. In fact...
HHS Publishes Out-of-Pocket Regs for 2017
This is hot off the presses. The most important announcement this past week is that HHS published the increased out-of-pocket regulations for 2017. Originally, the ACA was to cap deductibles at $2,000. That seems like a long time ago and was never really followed. In...
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