This summer has been hard on travelers, from high gasoline prices to numerous canceled flights. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, no one has been immune from it. Here are eight ways you can use your benefit accounts to help ease travel stress. 1. Stock Up on Medications Use your
…and how it affects patients and employers? Two significant drivers of escalating healthcare costs are a lack of knowledge about the cost of medical services and low levels of patient engagement in their healthcare decisions. However, thanks to healthcare consumerism, this is starting to change. Healthcare consumerism is a movement to
Many employers are out of COBRA compliance but don’t realize it. Are you sure your company is following all the rules? Is your company meeting its COBRA obligations in compliance with all applicable rules and regulations? Chances are, you’re not, at least if you are self-administering them. In fact, the
Attractive benefits plans are essential in today’s labor market. Smaller businesses often struggle to find affordable group health insurance plans that comply with ACA regulations. Let’s look at how an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement, or ICHRA, can offer big benefits for all businesses. What is an ICHRA? ICHRAs are an attractive
Healthcare flexible spending accounts (FSAs) let you use pre-tax funds to pay for some medical, dental, and health-related products and services, including certain over-the-counter items. Most people know FSA eligible expenses include doctor visits, surgery and other medical procedures, prescription medicines, dental, vision, chiropractic, and mental health services. However, there
Over the last couple of years, COVID created some temporary and potentially permanent changes to employer reporting requirements. As COVID moves from pandemic to endemic, let’s review the status of reporting requirements for 2022. PCORI Fee Change For plan years that end on or after October 1, 2021, and before
During the pandemic, the use of debit and credit cards has soared. A 2021 MarketWatch analysis found that debit card transaction volumes continue to surge, while growth in credit transactions has remained essentially flat. Always a possible addition to tax-advantaged benefit accounts, debit cards have increasingly become a benefits “must
Many employers are experiencing first-hand how hard it has become to attract and retain a great workforce. You may have young, healthy employees who don’t see much benefit in traditional health plans. Other workers may be ineligible for the traditional benefits you offer but still expect some type of assistance.
No, you can’t use your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) for straight food purchases like meat, produce and dairy. But you can use them for some nutrition-related products and services. To review, tax-advantaged accounts have regulatory restrictions on eligible products and services. The products and services
Just as we thought the pandemic was easing and we could start to recover from job losses, rising oil prices and potential interest rate increases may again affect the job market. Read on to learn about furloughs, layoffs, and COBRA. You’ll also learn about COBRA eligibility, qualifying events, and how
