S&S Benefits.....Opinion, Hearsay & News Review

A WSJ article reports that the majority of those signing up in the private insurance market through the exchanges were previously covered elsewhere. According to a McKinsey survey, only 11% of those enrolled were previously uninsured. Health Markets enrolled 7,500 people in exchange plans and said that 65% of the enrollees had prior insurance. Of those declining to purchase on the exchange, McKinsey said 52% declined due to cost and 30% declined due to technical problems with the web site. It would appear that this law is not going to solve the claimed problem for putting it into force- an uninsured population totaling 48 million people.

JPMorgan Chase is going to sell their Health Savings Account business and exit the market completely. They will continue servicing their current accounts until a sale is finalized.

UnitedHealthcare is moving its business to their Accountable Care Platform which includes value-based provider payment models which UHC says saves 4%-4.5% in medical cost. All self-funded clients must move to the value based contracting models by January 1st, 2015, which tells us that the value based contracting is very profitable for UHC. Buyer beware. Perhaps this why more and more, self-funded employers are moving to the Cost Plus model of payment and leaving the carriers behind in the interests of true transparency.

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Remember the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute? That's the part of Obamacare which cost your plan $1.00 per bellybutton covered in 2013 and which will increase to $2 this year. It is now being reported that the Institute has dedicated less than 40% of its research funding to Comparative Effectiveness Research(CER) and has not initiated a single study of medical devices and launched only a few studies of drugs.

A UBA study shows that public -sector health benefits cost $8,551 per employee, while those paying for the public-sector were spending only $6,040 per employee for health benefits.