Despite strong bipartisan support for a repeal of the onerous excise tax on health benefits, its fate in the Senate remains unclear.
It may take awhile, but the recent mergers of health insurers and pharmacy benefits managers could meaningfully mitigate the costs of care.
The long-entrenched system of drug-manufacturer rebates has not adapted to changes in health-plan designs and labor-market trends.
With the tax perhaps unlikely to ever take effect, should companies still factor it into their benefits planning and strategies?
As core strategies for containing employee health-care costs diminish in effectiveness, companies need fresher approaches.
The 420-employer National Business Group on Health recommends public-policy changes relating to the proliferating category of specialty drugs.
Save the good and revise the bad, says Brian Marcotte of the National Business Group on Health
Following this week's elections, CFOs are again in the dark about the outlook for the cost, delivery, and quality of company-sponsored health care.
Health benefits costs are forecast to climb 5% next year, thanks in part to fast-rising prices for specialty pharmaceuticals.
Innovative ways to engage employees offer hope for bringing health care spending under control.
A proposal to postpone the despised excise tax is an 11th-hour inclusion in the federal budget bill.
Companies, unions, and politicians on both sides of the aisle seek to repeal the coming excise tax on high-cost health plans.
