employee benefits
August 21, 2025
Preparing for Open Enrollment: Common Questions and Answers
As open enrollment season approaches, it’s never too early to start preparing so that you can make educated choices on benefits enrollment for the upcoming year. This annual window offers the opportunity to enroll in, change or update coverage options such as health insurance, dental plans, and voluntary benefits like life and disability insurance. The...
August 12, 2025
5 Tips to Prepare for Open Enrollment Early
Open enrollment is a critical time frame each year for employees to review, assess and modify their existing benefits or enroll in new ones. During open enrollment, employees can accept or decline employer-sponsored insurance, such as health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance and vision insurance, among other options. Open enrollment dates vary; however, for employer-sponsored...
August 7, 2025
Navigating Health Plan Notice Changes in 2025 and Beyond
Employers should be aware of updates to several model notices that can be used to comply with certain disclosure requirements for their group health plans under federal laws. Federal agencies provide these model notices to aid compliance and periodically update them to reflect changes to the law or the information contained in the notices. While...
July 1, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds ACA’s Mandate for Free Preventive Care
On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key component of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive care mandate (Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc.). The Court’s decision requires health plans and health insurance issuers to continue covering, without cost sharing, the full range of recommended preventive care services. ACA’s Preventive Care Mandate The...
June 17, 2025
U.S. Prescription Drug Spending Rose 10.2% in 2024
A new report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists revealed that prescription drug spending in the United States reached nearly $806 billion in 2024, up 10.2% from 2023. The increase was largely driven by the demand for weight loss medications, including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs. GLP-1 medications are prescribed for diabetes and obesity and...
May 13, 2025
New Executive Order Aims to Reduce Drug Costs by Aligning with Global Prices
On May 12, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) that aims to bring the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by similar nations. According to a White House fact sheet, the prices Americans pay for brand-name drugs are more than three times the price other nations pay....
April 17, 2025
One-quarter of Federal Spending in FY 2024 Was on Health Care
A KFF analysis found that $1 of every $4 in the federal fiscal year (FY) 2024 (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) was used to pay for health programs and services. The government spent $1.9 trillion (27%) on health care programs and services, while other large spending categories included Social Security (21%), national defense (13%) and interest payments...
April 11, 2025
Mental Health Care Benefits Strategies
In today’s work environment, employees are increasingly grappling with common mental health challenges such as burnout, stress and anxiety, as well as other diagnosable mental health disorders and conditions. These issues not only affect personal well-being but also impact workplace productivity and morale. While creating a healthy workplace culture, equipping managers to support workers and...