Collateral Benefits Group

What Consumers Need to Know to Save Money On Prescription Drugs

ctroutman — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:53:31 +0000

Research shows that Americans spent more than $750 upfront for prescription medications in 2012. A survey of both insured and uninsured individuals who regularly took prescription medications showed that the average person spent more than $1,200 out of pocket in the span of one year. After analyzing the results of their study, researchers agreed [...]

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Employers Who Want More Productive Workplaces Should Examine Benefits Options

ctroutman — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:39:35 +0000

Recent research shows that only 40 percent of workers in the United States would highly recommend their employers’ workplaces as good locations for employment. In addition to this, the study showed that those who did recommend their employers were more likely to be satisfied with the workplace benefits offered to them. The study also [...]

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What Employers Everywhere Need to Know About the New Form I-9

ctroutman — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:41:50 +0000

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a revised version of the I-9 form for general use. Every employer must complete a Form I-9 when they hire new employees. Some recent improvements to the form include a reformatted structure to minimize errors, clearer instructions and new fields. Some of the new fields include spaces for [...]

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How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of a Health Plan Scam

ctroutman — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:42:54 +0000

Fake health plans are appearing more often. The people behind these scams are taking advantage of millions of Americans who do not have and cannot afford regular health insurance. When these bogus plan creators refuse to compensate for the procedures they are supposed to cover, policyholders end up paying for both their medical bills [...]

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Understanding The HHS Rules For Essential Health Benefits

ctroutman — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:31:47 +0000

The HHS ruled to establish the future of insurance issuer standards and health insurance exchanges for actuarial value and essential health benefits under the PPACA. The final rule creates a plan for when federal facilitated exchanges should accredit qualified health plans. When the PPACA goes into full effect, insurance plans that were not grandfathered [...]

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Understanding How HIPAA Affects Availability of Health Information to Other Parties

ctroutman — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:26:28 +0000

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is commonly referred to as HIPAA. This act outlines who has lawful access to a person’s health records. Under the act, a person has a guaranteed provision to his or her own health information. However, it does set limits on the release [...]

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Estate Taxes for 2013 and Beyond

ctroutman — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:53:53 +0000

The dust has finally settled – for the moment. And Congress has stabilized the estate tax situation, which has been in a state of uncertainty since the so-called “Bush Tax Cuts” formally expired in 2010. The deal is this: The worst-case scenario in which all estates north of $1 million would have been hit [...]

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Gauging the Sequester’s Impact: Where and how soon might the cuts be made?

ctroutman — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:13:28 +0000

As there was no last-minute agreement between Congress and the White House to postpone federal budget cuts scheduled to take effect March 1, the ax now falls. Unless a bipartisan effort somehow undoes them, assorted federal government agencies will have their budgets reduced by $85 billion between now and October 1, as the [...]

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Employers Continue Searching for Ways to Contain Dental Insurance Costs

ctroutman — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:06:48 +0000

Slightly more than half (54%) of Americans received some form of dental insurance coverage in 2002, according to a recent report from the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP). Cost increases for 2002 and 2003 once again outpaced inflation. Expect this trend to continue as dental costs are projected to rise another 5% in [...]

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Important Medicare Changes for 2013

ctroutman — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:47:27 +0000

With the advent of the year 2013, the Medicare funding system is affected by two major pieces of legislation: The Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act, part of which took effect as of January 1; and the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was passed on January 2nd, 2013. This was the tax [...]

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