While there is no federal law that requires employers to provide employees with healthcare insurance, tax law incentives and competitive requirements cause most employers (except for the smallest organizations) to sponsor health benefit plans. Employer provided healthcare benefits are the major source of health insurance for most people in the United States. With the continuing rapid increase in the cost of health benefits, employers have implemented a variety of cost-cutting and cost-shifting strategies including ranging from self-insurance and managed care to defined-contribution, or consumer-directed, health plans.
For information on other requirements relating to healthcare benefits,
Please see the national Heath Care Insurance, national Health Information Privacy, and national Health Insurance Continuation/COBRA. sections.
Are HSAs Right for Your Company?
If you want new and innovative vehicles that can help you control costs without hampering the quality of care, health savings accounts (HSAs) could be the answer you are looking for. But in order to make the decision best for your organization, it is important to understand the real assets of the plans, explains Humana's Beth Beirbower.
Prepaid Health Benefits Cards Help Employees Be 'Smart'
You've been encouraging employees to take a more active role in their health care. You've provided an HSA, an HRA, and an FSA to make sure they have the ability to pay health-related expenses before taxes. But you've also fielded questions from employees, nearly as frustrated with the complicated new programs as they are with healthcare costs. What's a conscientious employer to do?
Employees Will Put Off Retirement in Order to Maintain Health Coverage
A new analysis finds that employees without access to health care coverage other than their employer' plans are more likely to defer retirement in order to retain coverage. It further found that employees with defined benefit plans are more likely to retire in any given year than their counterparts with defined contribution plans.
IRS Sets Health Savings Account Limits for 2009
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have issued new guidance on the maximum contribution levels for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and out-of-pocket spending limits for High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) that must be used in conjunction with HSAs.
