Debbie Perlman Blog

Having the right health insurance benefit for your small business is extremely important. In order to help you find the benefit that fits your needs, we'll go over seven types of health insurance plans. Five of these are traditional group health insurance policies, but we'll also introduce you to alternatives if group health is outside your budget. Knowing these policy types will prepare you for evaluating options each year as part of your internal small business audit. 1. Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) A PPO plan is a Preferred Provider Organization group health insurance policy. With a PPO plan, employees are encouraged to use a network of preferred doctors and hospitals. These providers are contracted to provide service to plan members at a negotiated or discounted rate. Employees generally aren't required to designate a primary care physician, but will have the choice to see any doctors or specialists within the plans network. Employees

When I shop online, sometimes the company will suggest an item that pairs well with what I’m buying. If I’m buying a slow cooker, they might suggest a cookbook to go with it. I like that! I have the option to buy the slow cooker alone, or buy the items together. You can apply that same approach to buying a Medicare Part D plan. Buy it alone, or buy it with your health coverage. First, it’s important to know that Original Medicare includes Part A (hospital coverage) and Part B (doctor visits, outpatient care and supplies). But it doesn’t include coverage for most outpatient prescription drugs, like the medicines you take every day or for short periods of time. A Part D prescription drug plan would help pay for these types of medicines. Two ways to get a Part D plan You can buy a Part D prescription drug plan from a private insurance company that has a contract with Medicare. Here’s what you need to do to get Part D: Enroll in Medicare Part A or Part B, or b

Anthem’s Trends in Health Benefits 2018 report found that consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) are gaining popularity among both employers and employees. But what is a consumer-driven health plan, really, and is it a good option for your business? The Benefits of CDHPs A consumer-driven health plan is a high-deductible health insurance plan that’s used in conjunction with a tax-advantaged savings account — either a health savings account (HSA), a flexible spending account (FSA) or a health reimbursement account (HRA). Enrollment in high-deductible health plans with associated savings accounts has increased by 50 percent since 2013. And the average employee-only premium for a CDHP is roughly $6,459 — nearly 10 percent lower than the average premium for a traditional preferred provider organization (PPO) plan. This makes CDHPs a more cost-effective way to offer health insurance, a crucial factor in attracting and retaining top employees. At the same time, these p

Here's how to increase your Social Security payout. Boost your benefit. Your Social Security payment amount is determined by how much you earn while working and when you elect to start receiving payments. Married individuals are additionally eligible for spousal and survivor's payments. But there are many strategies you can use to increase how much you will receive in retirement. Here's how to get the highest Social Security payment you qualify for. Work 35 or more years. Your Social Security payments are calculated using your 35 highest-earning years in the workforce. If you don't work for at least 35 years, zeros are factored into the calculation and reduce your payments. Even a low-earning year is better than having a zero averaged in. Earn a higher salary. The more you earn and pay into Social Security up to the taxable maximum of $132,900 in 2019, the higher your retirement payments will be. Earnings above the taxable maximum are not subj

The conversation about wearables in health care is no longer limited to activity trackers. Consumers and health care professionals now make use of all kinds of wearables. Insurers and employers have taken note of how wearables can enhance wellness efforts. For example, last year the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced plans to include the Fitbit in its Blue365 health and wellness program. The percentage of health care consumers who use wearables has nearly quadrupled, up from just 9% in 2014 to 33% in 2018, an Accenture survey found. And supply and demand are still growing. Consider the following stats about wearables in health care: The Stanford Medicine 2018 Health Trends Report found that of the health care patents filed by tech companies between 2015 and 2017, 23% were for wearable devices. More than 80% of consumers are willing to wear technology that measures health data, according to the Accenture survey. The United States is the largest player in a

Nearly one million individuals with disabilities received vocational rehabilitation services in 2016 — and over half of them subsequently found employment, according to the Rehabilitation Services Administration. Putting people to work, including those with short-term disabilities, is one goal. Another is to help employers gain access to qualified workers. Although employers may incur limited costs when providing vocational rehab and workplace accommodations, doing so often pays dividends in the long-run, enabling you to hire and retain employees who help your business thrive. What Is Vocational Rehab?  Vocational rehabilitation services are designed to help people with physical or mental disabilities prepare for, obtain, keep or regain a job. This includes individuals who have suffered on-the-job injuries and are trying to return to date-of-injury positions or to secure new jobs with comparable compensation. Vocational rehab includes a variety of services, fr

Every fall, the 60 million Americans who use the health plan can compare options and save money. Here’s what to consider. If you’re enrolled in Medicare but worry about the cost of health care, your chance to do something about it is right around the corner. Most people enroll in Medicare when they become eligible at age 65. But every fall, they have the opportunity to change their coverage during an enrollment season that runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. This is the time of year when you can switch between original fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the all-in-one managed care alternative to the traditional program. You also can re-evaluate your prescription drug coverage — whether that is a stand-alone Part D plan, or wrapped into an Advantage plan. It’s a good idea to do a checkup on your coverage, even if you are happy with your current choices. Prescription drug plans often revise their lists of covered drugs, the rules under which they

For value-based care to provide truly holistic, coordinated care to patients, it must incorporate behavioral health treatment. This can result in improving the quality of health care for your employees, especially those with chronic medical conditions. Despite the benefits of integrating behavioral health treatment into value-based care, physical and behavioral medicine too often remain siloed in our health care systems — even under value-based care arrangements. The Need for Inclusive Treatment Comprehensive primary care has begun to seek ways to integrate behavioral health treatment to improve outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Behavioral health conditions frequently co-occur with chronic diseases, but these symptoms may be overlooked. Depression symptoms, for example, may be masked by other medical conditions. Patients with diabetes often receive mental health education along with diabetes education, since anxiety and depression are frequently associated with this

In spite of increased awareness, suicide continues to be a major public health problem in the United States, and around the world. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., where the rate is higher than at any point since World War II. The majority of suicides in the U.S. are among working age adults. Business leaders are uniquely positioned to make a significant contribution to addressing this crisis. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention urges business leaders to be “visible, vocal and visionary” in directing suicide prevention efforts. Communication and connection are critical in combatting suicide and mental illness—and both are at the top of any business leader’s job description. By putting themselves upfront in their company’s mental health initiatives, business leaders can go a long way toward setting the tone for a productive conversation about suicide prevention. Working age suicides have increased 34% in the U.S. in the yea

When President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law on July 30, 1965, he declared, “No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine” (Johnson, 1965). On that promise, and much more, Medicare has delivered (Oberlander and Marmor, 2015). Over the past fifty years, Medicare has provided tens of millions of older Americans with a crucial measure of financial security and access to medical care. Moreover, since 1972, Medicare has provided coverage to persons with permanent disabilities and end-stage renal disease. Medicare is a program that almost all American families come to rely on. At the same time, so too has the medical industry come to rely on Medicare. As the single largest purchaser of medical services in the United States, Medicare is an important source of income for hospitals, physicians, home health agencies, and other medical care providers. Changes made in Medicare policy reverberate through American medical care. Medicare spending cu

In July 2018, Better Medicare Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, published research compiled by Avalere Health studying the treatment outcomes of chronic condition sufferers who have Original Medicare and compared them with a similar population of people who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage. The results could potentially affect how Medicare beneficiaries decide to receive their health coverage. Original Medicare Vs. Medicare Advantage Plans This particular study compared the two primary coverage options Medicare beneficiaries can typically consider. One option is to enroll in Medicare Part A and/or Part B (often called Original Medicare), which is the federally funded health insurance program founded in 1965. The other option is to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan (full disclosure: one of my companies offers Medicare Advantage plans), which is sold by private insurance companies and offers the same benefits offered by Medicare Part A and Part B under one