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Greetings!
You know it's Spring when the Masters starts and baseball has Opening Day. Our favorite Masters moment was 1986 watching Jack Nicklaus come from nowhere to win his 6th green jacket. His shot on the 16th above is the most memorable moment on that final day. Many people forget that Greg Norman was in perfect shape to win or tie in the last group, but made a horrible 2nd shot on the 18th to bogey and lose. A sign of things to come in the future for Greg Norman at the Masters.
On the health insurance front, the Supreme Court listened to arguments for and against ObamaCare. Regardless of what happens on the national level, it will not impact employers in Massachusetts, who already have RomneyCare which in essence is ObamaCare.
This week you can catch some great coverage of the Masters right from your desk!! Take a break and enjoy the tournament. Spring is here! If you have a question, send an email to Bill or Vanessa today.
Bill Randell CLU,CHFC, Vanessa Costa CLU,CHFC,
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Central Mass Dental & Vision
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Now Available April 1, 2012!
Who is this plan good for? The answer is simple. If you do not have dental insurance currently, and pay for basic preventive dental & eyeglasses out of pocket, this product is perfect. These expenses are currently not deductible, unless you itemize and only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your AGI,.
When you convert these non-deductible expenses into a weekly insurance premium, it becomes tax deductible through the company sponsored Section 125 Plan. A single premium costing $8.49/week for Plan 1 (summary of benefits and premiums) will only cost approximately $6 per week due to the savings on Federal, State and FICA taxes.
If you spend money on eyeglasses, contact or frames, you can submit receipts and get reimbursed up to $150 per year, which is tax free. Since this equals approximately $3 per week, the actual cost is now reduced further from $6 per week to $3 per week!
Please note the calendar year maximum is $750 per year. If you take advantage of the $150 eye care reimbursement then your maximum drops to $600, but where can you get $600 of preventive dental coverage for a net cost of $3 per week? Keep in mind there are no waiting periods. We, however, need three employees to enroll and there is no required employer contribution.
This plan works best for employers that currently have no dental insurance coverage. If you want a survey to judge the interest of your group, click here.
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Health Insurance update
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First and Second Quarter 2012 rates are averaging less than 10%. This is the best back to back quarters in a very long time. Many employers are keeping things the same for this year. But we have also seen some activity towards the new "Tiered" network plans.
Let us explain. Take a look at Fallon, they now have three HMO networks:
- Select: their largest network
- Direct: does not include the teaching hospitals
- Steward: hospitals owned by Steward Health Care System
If you and your employees are satisfied with the choices offered through these limited networks (Direct and Steward), you can save approximately 10% compared to Select. People need to weigh out whether paying the extra 10% is worth having more options or not.
Harvard-Pilgrim has a smaller network option (Focus Network) and Tufts has 2 smaller network options (Select and Steward). Blue Cross has the HCCS rider which adds an extra $1,000 for hospitalization, $450 for MRI-CAT-PET and $100 for x-rays done at high cost hospitals. The HCCS rider drops rates by approx 8%.
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Tiered Networks
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Employers are taking a closer look at these plans, which all the HMO's now offer. They are confusing and employee education is critical to make sure employees and dependents understand how it works. Although we understand and see the need for these products, we tread cautiously and see that subscribers have a hard time navigating the system and may incur higher expenses then they assumed.
Tiered plans typically come with three different tiers, which means there are three different sets of co-payments. Each doctor and hospital has their own tier. You need to check if your doctor is in tier 1, 2 or 3 to determine the co-payment. At the same time you also need to determine which tier any testing, day surgeries, x-rays, MRI-CAT-PET scans or hospitalizations to calculate the co-payment. Please note a doctor can be in one tier and the hospital can very easily be in another tier.
The difference in co-payments between the tiers for the doctors is not as material as the co-payments for the hospitals. For example, with Blue Cross a hospitalization done at St. Vincents/ Medical City will cost you nothing, but at UMASS the same hospitalization will cost you $2,000. Tiered networks give you the option to go to any hospital, unlike the limited networks, but the burden is on the employee to understand the plan and make a choice - at their expense.
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Old Commercials | |
Can you think of a better commercial campaign then "Tastes Great-Less Filling"
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