From the monthly archives: August 2015
CVS Health, which operates the nation’s second-biggest pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark, will exclude an additional 31 prescription medicines from insurance coverage next year, including Viagra and widely used treatments for diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Continue reading
SAN FRANCISCO — Benefit offerings will continue to change as more millennials join the workforce, an expert said during the Disability Management Employer’s Coalition’s 2015 conference in San Francisco.
There’s a shift from employer-paid to voluntary benefits, partly because younger workers want customization, Lindsey Pollak, author and millennial workplace expert at Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.’s, said during a keynote session on Monday. Continue reading
“Imagine your printer like a refrigerator that is full of all the ingredients you might require to make any dish in Jamie Oliver’s new book…,” chemist Lee Cronin says in a 2012 TedGlobal talk. Cronin, a professor at the University of Glasgow, goes on to describe how this idea could be applied to drugs, such as ibuprofen, by enabling a 3-D printer to follow a recipe given by a pharmaceutical company and produce whatever is needed, on the fly from a set of chemical inks. Continue reading
Under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), health insurance tax subsidies are available to the majority of individuals and families who do not receive insurance through an employer. If an employer offers a minimum level of coverage, employees are disqualified from the subsidies. Continue reading
More than 45 serious natural disasters struck the United States in 2014, ranging from severe storms and flooding to tornadoes, earthquakes, mudslides and wildfires, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency. Two thirds of which occurred between May and December. A disaster can hit anytime, anywhere, which is why it is important to make sure you and your family have a preparedness plan in place. Continue reading
Drug prices — especially the cost of specialty drugs — are on the rise. This trend affects all areas of health care, but especially workers’ compensation. Average drug costs related to workers’ comp claims are going up, Stephanie Goldberg writes for Business Insurance. Continue reading
The rise in recreational uses of drones (more accurately described as Unmanned Aerial Systems or just “UAS”) has sparked much debate, including concerns over safety and privacy. The scenarios are rather simple to envision: Suppose a person insured under a standard homeowners’ insurance policy uses a small camera-equipped UAS, purchased online for less than $1000, and unexpectedly crashes it into a neighbor’s car, or uses it to take pictures of a neighbor’s children playing in their backyard. Continue reading
When it comes to workers with chronic conditions, employers should focus on providing accommodations and support rather than managing a disease, an expert said during the Disability Management Employer Coalition’s 2015 conference in San Francisco.
Continue reading
