high deductible health plans News

As Health Plan Deductibles Rise, Expect More Workers’ Compensation Claims

Are employees injured at work more likely to file under workers’ compensation instead of group health insurance when their group health plan has a higher deductible? The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found evidence they do in a new study …

Most Americans with High Deductible Health Plans Don’t Shop or Save: Study

More and more Americans have health insurance that requires them to open their wallets for the first few thousand dollars’ worth of care they receive every year, before the insurance coverage kicks in. But a new study suggests that despite …

Health Costs in Record Slowdown But Do Consumers Notice?

The price of health care has grown more slowly than core consumer prices—what Americans spend on everything except food and energy—over the past five years. It’s the first time that’s happened since record-keeping started in 1959. That’s a remarkable break …

Study Finds Big Disparities in Local Prices for Hip, Knee Surgeries

Hip and knee replacements, two of the fastest-growing U.S. medical procedures, are subject to huge – and apparently random – price variations within the same geographical areas, a new insurance industry study said this week. The study by Blue Cross …

Obamacare Tax Stalls ‘Cadillac’ Health Plans

Large employers are increasingly putting an end to their most generous health-care coverage as a tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans looms closer under Obamacare. Employees including bankers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and college professors at Harvard University are seeing …

Health Plan Costs Up Slightly; What Employers Are Doing About It

In 2014, U.S. companies and their employees saw a slight uptick in the rate of U.S. health care cost increases, according to an analysis by corporate health and benefits consultant Aon Hewitt. After plan design changes and vendor negotiations, the …