Filtered by category: Health & Welfare Benefits Clear Filter

A Holistic Approach to Student Loan Repayment Assistance

Student loan payments are restarting in October 2023, and many borrowers haven’t made payments for over three years. Luckily, changes to income-driven repayment options and one-time account adjustments can have big benefits for borrowers. This article can help you understand how to (1) prepare your employees for student loan payments to restart under the latest rules; and (2) the various repayment assistance programs available to employees to ease the burden of repaying student loans.

I Steps for employees restarting student loan payments:

Read More

Getting Your Money’s Worth From an MSK Care Solution

Every business leader is reaching for the same brass ring: ROI. You need benefits solutions that will move the needle with buy-in-worthy metrics that back up claims of success. And you need them now.

Health benefit costs per employee are projected to jump 5.4% in 2023 and continue to increase in the years ahead, notes Mercer. This is in sharp contrast with the prior decade, during which costs went up only 2.1% to 3.9% every year except 2021.[1]

Read More

Nondiscrimination testing: Simplifying the core concepts

Nondiscrimination testing is a crucial part of sponsoring employee benefits as required by the IRS. In a world of constantly changing rules and regulations, it is crucial that employers remain up to date on how these tests impact their benefits. Nondiscrimination tests work to satisfy the Golden Rule, which dictates that highly compensated employees cannot receive a higher benefit than other employees.

Basics of Nondiscrimination Testing
There are three major tests you should have an understanding of as a plan sponsor Cafeteria Plan testsDCAP FSA tests and Health FSA tests. All the three categories include eligibility tests, which is where we see the Golden Rule at play.

Read More

How a flexible workforce approach helps organizations grow and thrive

7 strategies for increasing your talent pool and employee retention rate

The future of work is – in a word  flexible. Companies are fiercely competing for talent. Job openings remain above pre-pandemic levels and are higher in Massachusetts than in the country. Broadening your hiring strategies and taking a flexible approach that creates a positive employee experience will give your organization the upper hand in attracting and retaining top-quality employees.

Read More

A Library of Mental Health Resources

Each May, we recognize Mental Health Awareness, a complex and multi-faceted aspect of total well-being, often impacting and interconnected with other components of overall health. Mental Health is of paramount importance to NEEBC and our community and is a topic we will highlight and progress throughout the year.

With the spotlight on mental health awareness this month, we asked our partners to share their research, tools and solutions on mental health, and they delivered. This compendium of partner content (in alphabetical order by organization) covers a spectrum of mental health-related topics from access and care to the unique considerations for under-served communities, and it offers toolkits, strategies and a framework to help employers expand existing resources.

Read More

How telehealth can address inequities — and change the future of health care delivery

The lack of access to health care is often the biggest challenge that patients encounter when they are sick or seeking preventive care. Patients can face weeks of waiting to see a provider and insufficient time with that provider once they are finally seen. For many, access remains out of reach, particularly for those living in rural areas or under-resourced communities.

With virtual and digital capabilities becoming more convenient and widely adopted, consumers today have more options in how they access their care. The past year has seen people become increasingly comfortable with virtual care and, according to our recent Health Care Insights Study, 59% of consumers feel it is important to their health that they have access to virtual and telehealth services. This greater acceptance of virtual care, combined with the proliferation of telehealth options in the past few years, offers a promising solution to closing gaps in health care inequities and helping shape a better care delivery model for all.

Read More

What employers need to know about Medicaid redetermination and its impact on employees

Starting April 1, 2023, employees no longer eligible for Medicaid may look to employer-sponsored health insurance to stay covered.

Beginning as early as April 1, approximately 15 to18M people will no longer be eligible for Medicaid coverage because of the redetermination process and likely will seek health insurance from another source, including employer-sponsored coverage. As a result, employers, brokers, consultants can work together to determine what this development might mean for companies’ health plans and employees.

Read More

The "Love Your Heart" Guide for American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month.  To mark this important event, Hello Heart is pleased to provide benefits leaders with this guide to help encourage your members to “Love Your Heart,” and promote health and wellness throughout the year. Here’s what’s included: 

  • The basics of high blood pressure and high cholesterol
  • Why addressing these conditions is so critical
  • A brief history of American Heart Month
  • 10 simple yet powerful heart healthy-tips for your employees  
  • 10 great ways to mark American Heart Month in your organization 

The Basics of High Blood Pressure 

Blood pressure is the pressure of blood that pushes against the walls of the arteries, which in turn carry blood from the heart throughout the body. High blood pressure puts individuals at risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to guidelines published by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC), high blood pressure is said to exist when: 

Read More

7 Ways A National Employer’s Expanded Benefits Ensure “Something for Everyone”

CVS Health® offers a wide range of healthcare and benefits programs to help meet the diverse needs of our colleagues to build equity, diversity and inclusion into health and well-being, and focused on promoting health equity and affordability. We are continually evaluating gaps in well-being, what’s working, what new ideas we can bring to support total well-being, and how we can ensure we identify and address disparities and enable our workforce to thrive.

In 2021 and 2022, we expanded seven benefits programs.  The new programs are described below.

Read More

The World Has Changed, and so Have Employees’ Needs. Are your benefits changing at the needed pace?

The pandemic and The Great Resignation have changed the world and with it the way we work. Employees now place a greater importance on their well-being than ever before, and employers that offer benefits packages that align with the lifestyle needs of the working population have a significant leg up on the competition.

Yes, it’s time to expand your benefits program and the competitive advantages employers get – increased employee retention, engagement, and satisfaction. It is well worth the effort.

Read More

The Cost of Chronic Pain, Depression and Anxiety in the Workplace

116 million adults in the US—more than the number affected by heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined—live with common chronic pain conditions.  Of those individuals, 20-50% experience comorbid depression in parallel to their chronic pain, and are 2-3x more susceptible to suicidal ideation and behaviors.

Over the last 3 years, we’ve conducted extensive research specifically around the relationships between chronic pain and comorbid anxiety and depression, and more importantly, how organizations like yours can reduce the associated downstream effects of chronic pain including absenteeism and high medical claim costs.  

Read More

Biogen Working Parents Feel Supported with Onsite Child Care Center

At Biogen, we understand the importance of taking a proactive position on caregiving and offer solutions to support our employees as both a caregiver and someone who may need care. 

Employee Needs in a Competitive Industry
As with most working parents, juggling childcare needs and career responsibilities can be a daily struggle. In the competitive biotech industry, employers always needed and still need to recruit employees by providing a supportive culture that understands and meets the needs of employees where they are in their life…whether it be access to reliable, high-quality childcare or workforce education initiatives. 

Read More

How To Overcome Social Determinants of Health in Musculoskeletal Care

The Institute of Medicine, in the 2001 landmark report Crossing the Quality Chasm, outlined six key aims for healthcare to focus on in the twenty-first century: a prime healthcare experience that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Although many of these goals have been at least partly achieved, one is lagging – health equity.

Healthcare is no more equitable now than it was twenty years ago. The divide between rural and urban communities continues to show itself in average life expectancy. Research shows that 33 states have seen at least one rural hospital close in the last 10 years, and it’s estimated that just over 30 million Americans live more than an hour away from trauma care. In urban communities, like Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, physical disability, disease prevalence, and mortality rates are significantly higher in zip codes with lower median household incomes.

Read More

Using Absence Programs to Attract & Retain a Flexible Workforce

It sounds counterintuitive — how can programs that enable time away from work possibly help companies dealing with labor shortages? Yet, a 2021 survey conducted by HUB International shows that 40% of participating companies indicated their leave of absence policies needed to be more enticing to attract and retain employees.1 Absence programs are an important part of the employee experience, and organizations can leverage their time-off policies and benefits to stand out among competitors, especially now that workers have more options than ever before.

In a Gallup poll conducted earlier this year, employees identified well-being, including work-life balance, as one of the most important factors when deciding whether to accept a new job.2  Time-off policies and other absence-related benefits help employees achieve work-life balance by providing income protection while taking time to care for themselves and/or their families — from a well-deserved vacation to a healthcare emergency and everything in between.

Read More