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Industry Updates

This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.

Health Spending Growth Slowed In 2022. That Trend’s Set To Change, Experts Say

Experts predict that health spending growth will outstrip growth in the economy over the next decade, according to a study published in Health Affairs. Between 2022 and 2031, the actuaries predict spending will increase by 5.4% on average each year, faster than the estimated annual gross domestic product growth of 4.6%.

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Satisfaction With Healthcare Coverage Spread Unevenly Across Payer Types: KFF Survey

Most people with either public or private healthcare insurance like their coverage—but they like it a lot less when they’re sick, according to a new KFF survey.

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Employers Increasingly Using Benefits To Attract Workers

We have advocated for years that offering the right employee benefits can help your clients attract and retain their most-valued employees. It demonstrates how much they care about the health of their workers (and their dependents). An added incentive for most employers to offer benefits is that the associated costs are usually tax deductible. According to ...

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2 In 3 Small Businesses Don’t Offer 401(k)s: Will SECURE 2.0 Help Move The Needle?

Many small business owners are struggling to provide retirement savings benefits, a new study from Fidelity has found. The firm’s 2023 Small Business Retirement Index found that almost half (48%) of small business owners say they cannot afford to offer a retirement plan. Only one-third (34%) offer some form of retirement benefits to employees. The report comes ...

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Health Insurance Stocks Slide After UnitedHealth Warns More Surgeries Will Drive Up Medical Costs

Health insurer stocks dropped Wednesday after UnitedHealth Group warned of higher medical costs as older Americans start to catch up on surgeries they delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shares of UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health-care provider by market value, closed around 6% lower. Medicare-focused insurer Humana declined 11%. Elevance Health closed roughly 7% lower, and CVS Health, which owns insurer Aetna, slid nearly 8%. Insurance companies have ...

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Hospital Revenues Appear To Be Rising

Hospital revenues appear to be on the upswing as more patients receive care — which is welcome news for the hospital industry and not-so-great for insurers. Why it matters: Hospitals have been warning for months that their financial stability is threatened by inflation, labor costs and other factors in the wake of the pandemic, which could ultimately threaten patient ...

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Help Clients Get Reimbursed For COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave

Your small business clients may be eligible to apply for reimbursement of costs incurred in connection with the California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave program. Qualifying employers are eligible for $5,000 to $50,000. Funds awarded can be used solely to reimburse California employers that offered COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave between January 1, 2022, through ...

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Doctors Urged To Move Beyond BMI Alone As A Health Measure

Roughly 200 years ago, a Belgian mathematician and statistician named Adolphe Quetelet, seeking to characterize “normal man,” observed that adults’ body weight in kilograms is roughly proportional to the square of their height in meters – a measurement that came to be referred to as the Quetelet index. It wasn’t until 1972, when physiologist Dr. Ancel Keys proposed it as ...

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The Coverage Reshuffle: Health Insurance Projections & Health Care Spending, 2023-33

The end of COVID continuous coverage requirements for Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies after 2025 will affect both health-care spending and sources of coverage. The Congressional Budget Office in late May released its latest estimates for Americans younger than age 65.

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Compromise Struck To Preserve Obamacare’s Preventive Care Mandate

The Texas conservatives challenging Obamacare’s preventive care mandate have reached a tentative compromise with the Justice Department that preserves free coverage for a range of services — from syphilis tests to depression screenings.

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