New BenefitView Dashboard Lets Employers Track Retirees’ Medicare Enrollment Progress
August 22, 2012
The newly available Extend Health BenefitView™ dashboard lets employers ensure no retiree is left behind during the enrollment process. BenefitView gives employers access to something they’ve never had before on a Medicare exchange: real-time, interactive reporting on the experience of their retirees as they transition from the employer’s group coverage to their own individual Medicare plans on an exchange.
In “Retiree Medicare exchange previews improved transparency,” Employee Benefit News sheds light on how valuable this degree of insight is to HR professionals leading their companies and employees through a health care benefit transition this significant.
BenefitView is the culmination of eight years of our insight into delivering a premium health insurance exchange experience for consumers and employers on the Extend Health private Medicare exchange.
BenefitView answers burning HR questions
BenefitView offers employers immediate answers to questions around goals and milestones when transitioning from a group plan to the individual Medicare market:
- Have retirees responded to our communications?
- Are their calls to benefit advisors getting through in good time?
- Are they making and completing their appointments with benefit advisors?
- How long are those calls taking on average?
- Are they choosing plans and which ones?
- Are there groups that we may need to do additional outreach to?
BenefitView gives employers up-to-the-minute, unfiltered answers to these questions with the click of the mouse.
BenefitView users and creators tell us what they think
We talked to representatives from a few of the employers who have used BenefitView for mid-year transitions. Here’s what they had to say.
“Before our transition started, we wanted to make sure our retirees first understood that they were going to get more choice and control over their Medicare health benefits. Then we wanted to provide retirees with all the right information they needed to participate,” said Melissa (Missy) Hartfiel, benefits planner, Global Compensation and Benefits for International Paper. “With BenefitView, we can instantly see all the data on our progress – the number of retirees contacted, the number of calls and enrollments completed, how quickly our retirees were being answered, and the length of those calls. This inspired a lot of confidence in the Extend Health solution. As a non-techy, I also appreciated that BenefitView is visual and easy to use – there was no learning curve and I got all the data I wanted with one click.”
“The data HR professionals see in BenefitView is the same data that Extend Health sees in-house,” said David Lash, senior director of product management for Extend Health. “This actually makes our weekly progress meetings with employers much more strategic. We don’t have to spend time communicating numbers or determining where we are in the process. We’ve been looking at the same numbers all along and we are able to focus our energy on optimizing the course for each phase of the transition. It’s much more efficient for everyone. More than the technology involved, our goal for this tool was to create this premium experience for employers.”
“Employers sponsor and subsidize these transitions of their retirees to individual plans to assure that every retiree gets a chance to have the supplemental Medicare coverage they want while managing company costs and future liabilities,” said Brian Bohlig, chief marketing officer for Extend Health. “It’s very important to employers, to us and most importantly to retirees that these transitions go as smoothly as possible. Extend Health has always provided employers frequent and comprehensive progress reporting to ensure smooth transitions – but now we’ve made it real time and on demand. BenefitView makes communication between Extend Health and employers seamless, and protects employers from finding out after the fact that their retirees missed out on getting the health care coverage they needed or wanted.”
Another Extend Health client, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, also experienced the difference BenefitView could make in the process of selecting individual Medicare plans. “With BenefitView, I was able to give our HR Director up-to-the minute progress reports whenever she asked for them,” said benefits manager Scott McIntyre. “As we neared the end of our enrollment period, we were checking BenefitView daily and adjusting our communications and outreach to make sure we were giving all of our retirees every chance to participate. BenefitView allowed us to keep our finger on the pulse of what was happening with our retiree transition whenever we wanted.”
BenefitView specifications
Real-time information available to employers through BenefitView includes:
- Number of retirees enrolled versus the total number eligible in time remaining
- Percent of eligible retirees contacted
- Number of appointments scheduled
- Number of appointments met
- Plan types selected across different populations
- Average premiums across different populations
- Number of unique plans selected
- Number of unique carriers selected
- Total number of calls
- Average wait times for before reaching a benefit advisor
- Average time to handle calls
Get a BenefitView demo
Contact Extend Health online or by phone 1.888.232.1653 for a demonstration of BenefitView. Check out BenefitView online yourself.
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare insurance exchange.
Tweet Chat on Health Care Costs
August 10, 2012
Extend Health held a tweet chat today on health care costs. There were some great questions and excellent answers from John Barkett, Dir. of Policy Affairs at ExtendHealth fielded questions. John worked in congress on health care and his wealth of knowledge was evident in the answers he provided.
If you missed our tweet chat you can read a complete recap of the event. Hope to see you at the next one!
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare insurance exchange.
Way to go Garland Senior Fair!
August 8, 2012
Extend Health exhibited at the Garland Senior Fair in Texas this past Sat, Aug 4. There was a great turnout of over 350 people from the community and surrounding areas including seniors, their families, community leaders and service providers like us, who care about seniors and senior issues.
State Representative Angie Chen Button thanked Dwight and Ivory in person for exhibiting at the fair, fulfilling an invitation that she extended to Bryce Williams, Towers Watson Managing Director of Extend Health, at the ribbon-cutting of the first Extend Health service center in Richardson this past May.
Richardson Mayor Bob Townsend encouraged everyone to make good use of the resources available. And many other community leaders, including City of Rowlett Senior Advisory Board members Pamela Bell and Wayne Baxter, met with attendees and the community groups and companies exhibiting.
Dwight Turner and Ivory Rooks, both senior benefit advisors for Extend Health, who have years of experience helping seniors choose the best Medicare plans for them, served as Extend Health ambassadors. They answered people’s questions about Medicare and shared resources with them, explaining the role Extend Health can play in helping to connect people with the best coverage for their needs.
According to Dwight, “We put the care into shopping for Medicare!“
Ivory added, “It was great to be able to connect in person with people and extend a helping hand.”
Extend Health contributed a Texas-themed gift basket, which was raffled off to a lucky winner. The day was welcome chance to connect in person with many in a community that is very important to Extend Health.
We recently announced that Extend Health is bringing over 500 jobs to the community with the opening of its second service center in the Richardson Telecom Corridor.
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare insurance exchange.
Coventry Health Care just recognized Extend Health for efficiency and customer satisfaction, including zero customer complaints in 2011. Here’s a brief snip from the press release.
“Extend Health Inc., a leading provider of health benefits management services, including the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange, received two first place awards from Bethesda, Maryland-based Coventry Health Care, Inc. (NYSE:CVH) for exceptional customer service performance by a partner in 2011.
- Zero customer complaints reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by seniors signing up for Coventry private Medicare supplement plans through Extend Health;
- The lowest 90-day plan cancellation rate — called rapid disenrollment — which, at just 0.5 percent, was far less than the typical rate.”
Click here to read the complete news release.
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange.
Join us to learn how AGL Resources, Inc., reduced retiree health insurance costs and provided retirees with benefits of equal or better value by leveraging a Medicare exchange.
During this webcast you will learn:
- How AGL Resources was able to provide its retirees with more choice and better value for their health care dollars.
- How AGL Resources reduced OPEB liabilities, simplified administration, and made retiree health care benefits sustainable.
- Details of AGL Resources’ decision making process, communication protocol and keys to success.
Webinar Details:
April 11, 2012
10:00 am PST/1:00 pm EST
Featuring:
Chasity Miller
Managing Director, Compensation & Benefits
AGL Resources, Inc.
Richard K. Wheeler
Senior Vice President
Extend Health, Inc.
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange.
If you are considering a move to a Medicare Exchange for your retirees, now is the time to start thinking about an off-cycle transition. Because the Retiree Drug Subsidy loses its tax-deductible status starting in 2013, many corporate employers are timing a new retiree strategy to coincide with this pivotal legislative change. Extend Health and CMS anticipate a very busy fall season in 2012 due to this tax event, as employers decide to make transformative changes to retiree benefit plans.
Making a change to your Medicare population does not have to coincide with the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) in the fourth quarter. Changes can be made at any time during the year. Many Extend Health clients have chosen to transition to the Medicare exchange platform for effective dates other than January 1st.
Among the advantages of making an “off-cycle” transition in 2012 is the ability to avoid the busy fall enrollment season, when existing Medicare beneficiaries can and often do review and change their Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D coverage. Retirees who lose group coverage always have guaranteed Issue status during a special enrollment period that allows them to move into the individual supplemental Medicare market — no matter what time of year the change takes place.
An off-cycle transition also separates retiree benefits management tasks from the usual end-of-year enrollment period for active employees. HR departments can focus on the retiree transition without also having to manage the administration of active employee enrollment at the same time.
If you choose an off-cycle transition, you can have full confidence that Extend Health will take good care of your retirees and that it will allow them (and you) to avoid the AEP rush.
Visit Extend Health to use the ExtendExchange™ platform – the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange.
Ryan and Wyden Medicare proposal overview and news roundup
December 16, 2011
Overview:
Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) released their proposal to overhaul Medicare this week. It is not at the bill stage yet, as the authors hope to cut down on the political rhetoric and start a serious national dialogue about the future of Medicare. Ryan and Wyden have not asked the Congressional Budget Office to review their proposal yet, so it is not known how much their plan would save compared to current Medicare.
Here is a brief overview of some of the plan’s key points:
People over 55 would see no change to their benefits. They would be free to opt into a private plan when the Medicare Exchange is established in 2022.
The “premium support” system would ensure affordable coverage by empowering seniors to choose either traditional Medicare or private plans. And there would be more help for low-income seniors who need it, and less for wealthier seniors who don’t need the assistance.
Medicare plans could be purchased on an insurance exchange established by congress.
Strong consumer protection would include:
- All participating plans would have to offer benefits that are at least equal to traditional Medicare plans.
- Risk-adjusted premium-support payments would guarantee affordable coverage for those with the greatest health needs.
- Plans could neither refuse coverage for pre-existing conditions, nor charge rates that discriminate based on health status.
- CMS would oversee all plans to ensure transparency and fairness.
Competition would drive program growth. Competitive bidding would force providers to reduce costs and improve quality. Competition between private and traditional Medicare plans would incentivize both to develop better delivery models and ways to care for patients.
Employees in small businesses with up to 100 workers could use their employer’s contributions to purchase their own health insurance, and the cost of free choice options would be fully tax deductible to the employer. In addition, allowing workers to keep the same insurance when they retire would ease their transition into Medicare.
Medicare spending would be capped to GDP plus one percentage point.
Read the full report: http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/WydenRyan.pdf
News Roundup:
Here’s a roundup of news articles written this week about the Ryan/ Wyden proposal, with reactions and opinions from across the political spectrum.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek: Bipartisan Medicare Plan May Spur More Compromise, Ryan Says
The Washington Post: Interview with Rep. Paul Ryan
Boston.com: Clipboard: The “Ryden” Medicare proposal
Chicago Tribune: White House blasts new Medicare plan by GOP’s Ryan
Reuters: Republican Ryan backs new bipartisan Medicare Plan
Forbes: Ron Wyden and Paul Ryan’s Bipartisan Plan for Health Care and Medicare Reform
The Wall Street Journal: A.M. Vitals: Ryan, Wyden to Introduce Proposal for Changing Medicare
Time: Wyden-Ryan: A Move Toward Health Care Sanity
The Washington Post: What Wyden-Ryan hath wrought
The Wall Street Journal: The Wyden-Ryan Breakthrough
Kaiser Health News: Wyden And Ryan Join Forces On New Medicare Overhaul Plan
The Hill: Paul Ryan moves away from controversial Medicare reform plan
The New York Times: Lawmakers Offer Bipartisan Plan to Overhaul Medicare
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Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2011 Annual Survey
October 27, 2011
Kaiser recently released the results of its thirteenth annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) Employer Health Benefits survey. Each year they conduct a survey of 3,184 “nonfederal private and public employers with three or more workers.”
This survey looks at many employer-sponsored health coverage trends including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing and much more. New for 2011 it also includes, “the percent of firms with grandfathered health plans, changes in benefits for preventive care, enrollment of adult children due to the new health reform law, and the use of stoploss coverage by firms with self-funded plans.”
The findings in this year’s survey show that the percentage of large employers (those with 200 or more workers) offering retiree health benefits in 2011 is 26%, which is the same percentage that was offered in 2010. The steep decline in employers offering retiree benefits seems to have moderated in recent years, and reached a plateau at least for the time being.
Here are a few key findings:
- 26% of large employers are offering retiree Health benefits – no change from last year.
- 72% of all firms have at least one grandfathered plan under ACA.
- 65% of small businesses haven’t checked to see if they qualify for ACA small employer tax credits.
- 56% of covered workers are in grandfathered plans.
You can access the survey online at http://ehbs.kff.org. You read the report online, or down load the full report, a summary, and presentation slides as well as various other documents and supplements.
Visit Extend Health – the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange.
Social Security Announces 3.6% Benefit Increase for 2012
October 20, 2011
On Wednesday, October 19, 2011 the Social Security Administration announced the first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since 2009. Over 60 million Americans will receive a 3.6% increase in their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
Increased payments for over 8 million SSI beneficiaries begins on December 30, 2011, and nearly 55 million Social Security beneficiaries will start getting their 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment in January 2012. According to the SSA press release, the Social Security increase for some beneficiaries “may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums.”
More information:
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Washington Extension
October 7, 2011
Medicare News
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that among Medicare beneficiaries in their last year of life in 2008, one-third had a surgical procedure performed. One-fifth had surgery in the last month of life, and one in ten had surgery in the last week of life. The rates of surgery varied dramatically across the country, but geographic variation is controversial because it is unclear whether it reflects unnecessary care or true differences in patient needs. This report adds to the influential research conducted by the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care showing Medicare beneficiaries living in areas of the country with lower intensity of end-of-life care do not have higher mortality rates.
The Michigan state legislature voted to end retiree health benefits for future and newer sitting legislators, in the face of state budget shortfalls. Retiree health benefits cost the state about $5 million in the last fiscal year. Governor Rick Snyder has promised to sign the legislation.
ACA Updates
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its highly-anticipated report on the criteria for determining essential health benefits (EHB) that ACA-qualified health plans must cover. The ACA defined ten categories of commonly-covered health services that plan benefits must include. The IOM identifies criteria for defining and updating specific components of the EHB, including: use a public deliberation process, include only medically necessary services that are value-based, promote some state flexibility, make annual updates based on credible evidence of effectiveness of benefits, and rely on typical coverage in the small employer market. Unlike Medicare’s coverage standard of “reasonable and necessary”, the IOM recommends higher standards for benefit coverage, such as the treatment demonstrate meaningful improvement over current effective services/treatments, and is cost effective. These criteria (among others) are aligned with the criterion that the EHB package, in aggregate, be affordable.
In ongoing litigation regarding the ACA, 26 states and the NFIB filed petitions to the Supreme Court to appeal the ruling in the Eleventh Circuit which struck down the individual mandate but upheld the remainder of the ACA. The Department of Justice also filed its own petition requesting review of the Circuit Court decision, significantly increasing the odds that this issue will appear on the Supreme Court’s docket this term (though the Court may have more than one case to choose from). Outstanding questions remain about the ability of the Court to rule on a federal tax law before anyone has actually paid the tax (i.e. the individual mandate penalty).
Nebraska will wait until the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of the ACA before setting up a health insurance exchange. According to the governor, the state is designing a program and applying for federal funding, but won’t build a “formal proposal” until the Court decides. Minnesota’s prospects are less clear: while the governor has secured millions of federal dollars, and has support to design a state-run exchange from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and some Republicans in the legislature, a debate rages about whether the governor needs authorization from the GOP-controlled legislature—which has been unwilling to pass a bill—to set up an exchange.
On the Hill
House Republicans released their 2012 draft budget for health, labor and education, totaling $153.4 billion. This compares with the Senate Democrats’ proposed budget of $165.3 billion. The Republicans’ draft bill prohibits funds to implement the ACA, as well as provisions to rescind funding already provided for ACA programs. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), chairman of the House Appropriations Labor-Health and Human Services subcommittee, recently wrote to the “Super Committee” recommending they cut ACA Medicaid expansions and affordability credits to achieve their $1.2 trillion deficit reduction goal.
Reports/Other News
About one quarter of retirees think that life in retirement is worse than before they retired, according to a RWJF/NPR/Harvard School of Public Health poll. This compares with only 14% of pre-retirees who expect that retired life will be worse. Retirees cite costs of medical treatment and long-term care as especially worrisome. Many fewer pre-retirees think that their health will be worse (13%) during retirement than retirees who say their health actually is worse (39%). Pre-retirees are also less confident (38%) that Medicare will provide benefits of at least equal value to current benefits than retirees (52%).
Average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2011 rose 8% for single coverage (to $5,249) and 9% for family coverage (to $15,073) over 2010 costs, according to this year’s Kaiser Family Foundation/HRET employer health benefits survey. The percentage of total premium paid by workers is similar to 2010 (18% for individuals, 28% for family coverage). Among firms offering coverage to employees, 26% offer retiree coverage, similar to 2010. State and local governments are most likely to offer retiree health benefits (83%), while large firms in the retail and wholesale industries are least likely (15% and 16%). Nearly all (91%) of offering large firms cover early retirees below age 65, while 71% cover Medicare-age retirees. AHIP blames rising insurance costs on prices for medical services, asserting that Washington must do more to control cost growth. Kaiser attributed 1-2% of the premium increase to provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including allowing children up to age 26 on their parents’ health insurance.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report showing 170,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries received prescriptions for controlled substances from five or more physicians in 2008, indicating fraud and prescription drug abuse in Part D. In ten individual cases examined by the GAO, physicians did not know that their patients were receiving drugs prescribed by other physicians. Although Part D plans are required to perform retrospective drug utilization reviews to identify inappropriate or unnecessary medication use, plans are not authorized to restrict drug access based on the findings.
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