. . . . . . . . SEPTEMBER 2005. . . . . . . .

Changing Landscape
CDH Options, Other Benefit Trends Complicate Open Enrollment Season
CONTINUED COST shifting, more consumer driven healthcare options, and a new Medicare benefit make this year’s open enrollment season a potential minefield for benefit managers, according to Tom Billet, Watson Wyatt senior consultant.

“With many employers once again passing rising healthcare costs to their workers, open enrollment has become more than simply a process of checking off which benefits employees would like for the following year,” says Billett. Six trends will affect benefit managers as they begin their 2006 open enrollment season, according to Billett:

(1) Designing health plans to emphasize first-dollar cost sharing. Employees will be covering 20% of the cost instead of paying $15 to $25 copayments for doctor visits. (2) Replacing prescription drug plans that require copayments for generic and brand-name drugs with coinsurance and deductibles. (3) Adding health saving accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) as an option to traditional plans. According to the Employee Benefit News/Forrester Research 2005 Benefits Strategy and Technology leisure—is becoming obselete. Thus, new work arrangements have to be developed to meet the needs of the mature worker and the head-count concerns of the corporation, according to Jeri Study, benefits related to CHDPs, including FSAs, HSAs, HRAs, and debit cards tied to spending accounts, top employers’ to-do lists for the next two years. (4) Offering bigger financial incentives for workers to complete health risk assessments and participate in wellness programs. Lewis Devendorf, Mercer principal, says that employers should invest more in financial incentives to urge workers to adopt healthier lifestyles, because medical cost containment depends on changing people’s habits. Likewise, Buck’s National Health Care Strategy Survey finds that organizations reporting success in controlling healthcare costs tend to employ health risk assessments, wellness programs, employee education, and systems that track employees’ health-related behavior changes. (5) Using online tools to help workers make better healthcare decisions. (6) Notifying Medicare-eligible employees/retirees about the new prescription drug benefit effective January 1, 2006.

Employee Exodus
Firms Gear Up for Upcoming Retirement Rush
MORE THAN 40% OF THE U.S. workforce is expected to stop full-time work by the end of the decade, according to a recent report by The Conference Board. Industries to experience the most fallout from this retirement rush include oil, gas, energy, healthcare, and government, according to the report. Consequently, forward-thinking firms are recruiting, retaining, and developing flexible work-time arrangements and/or phased retirement plans for these workers (55 years of age or older), many of whom have skills that are often difficult to replace.

“The maturing workforce is often seen as an issue to be dealt with instead of a great opportunity to be leveraged,” says Lorrie Foster, co-author of The Conference Board report. The historical linear life plan—where certain years are earmarked for education, work, and then Sedlar, report co-author. “The skills and knowledge mature workers possess can be utilized to great advantage by a company that knows itself well and can identify its weak areas that can be bolstered by the right mature workers,” says Foster. Consequently, employers are introducing flexible work schedules, retraining, health-and-wellness seminars, part-time positions, job sharing, and other strategies to retain and recruit older workers. As the demographic pool continues to shrink, future workers will increasingly be found among older workers, married women, the disabled, and “sequencing mothers”—those who leave a job or scale back their employment to raise their children and then rejoin the workforce when their children are older.

. . . . . . . . . Bulletin Briefs. . . . . .
IRS Boosts Mileage Reimbursement Rate
In reaction to soaring gas prices, the Internal Revenue Service has increased the optional standard mileage rate to 48.5 cents per mile for the reimbursement of employees who use their own cars for company business, retroactive to September 1. The increased rate continues through the remaining months of 2005.

Online Tool Helps Families Predict Medical Expenses, Budget
Humana’s new online resource, the Family Health Budget, includes a personal finance planning tool and provides employees with information on how much to spend on annual health-related products, services, and activities. Access the site at: http://www.familyhealthbudget.com/global/need_budget.htm

Do you have part-time or non-eligible employees not covered on your group health plan? Gemini Group, Inc. can help!

Recent changes to Colorado insurance law have made it easier to get these workers health insurance coverage. Gemini Group, Inc. can show you how to best use these changes to your advantage.

Benefits at no cost to the employer- Under the new guidelines, a company can now help workers obtain affordable individual health insurance coverage at no cost to the employer.

Helps eliminate C.O.B.R.A. problems- An employer can now help terminated employees obtain an option to C.O.B.R.A. that usually will cost less and move them off the group plan.

Cover dependants no longer eligible for a group health plan- When a dependant graduates or reaches an age where they are no longer eligible for a group plan, an employer can help by contacting Gemini Group, Inc. to get them covered on an individual health plan. It's easy to apply for individual health coverage at www.geminigrp.com

Call Gemini Group, Inc. at (303) 757-1234 to find out how our team of consultants can help find exciting new solutions to all your benefit needs.

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