Washington

Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) available on Aetna’s website

Felicity — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:10:14 +0000

The Affordable Care Act mandates that each group member be provided with a copy of Summary of Benefits and Coverage also known as SBC. The SBC requirements went into effective September 23, 2012 and each group is responsible for distribution at their plan anniversary following this date. There are also requirements for employees that join the plan outside of the anniversary date and strict timeframes for distribution of the SBC.

The SBC’s are now available on Aetna’s website and available for you to download and share with your clients to ensure that they are fulfilling their legal responsibility for delivering the SBC’s to employees. For step-by-step directions and additional information please see the documents below.

As always, Total Benefit Solutions is here to ensure that you are guided through this process and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

SBC Brochure – Plan Sponsors

SBC Brochure – Brokers

How to access SBC – Brokers

Vision Service Plan (VSP)

smartfoxes — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:07:08 +0000

Vision Service Plan – Promoting affordable coverage for healthy vision

With a dream of providing high-quality, cost-effective eye care benefits, a group of optometrists founded VSP in September 1955.

As the nation’s largest provider of eye care coverage, VSP provides thousands of companies with well-designed vision plans that are available at low out-of-pocket expense. VSP plans meet overall eye health and wellness needs and cover advanced vision correction procedures, including surgery.

VSP has more than 28,000 doctors in nearly 20,000 offices across the country. Doctors provide both eye exams and eyewear, making them a convenient “one-stop” means of obtaining eye care benefits.

Ask us about VSP eye care benefit plans.

Assurant

smartfoxes — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:06:15 +0000

Assurant – Assurance for optimum dental health

A Fortune 500 company and a national leader in all insurance product lines, Assurant’s core business is focused on small to mid-size employer groups.

Through Total Benefit Solutions, Assurant delivers carefully designed and cost-effective dental health plans. Assurant group dental care plans encourage preventive treatment, allowing employees to achieve oral health while striving to minimize dental costs. A wide range of products is available from managed care to true group indemnity products.

Also available are dental plans for small employers with at least 10 enrolled employees and 65% group participation, which can be purchased as part of a complete employee benefit program or as a stand-alone product.

Assurant Employee Benefits Dental PPO is a leading, nationwide PPO that is offered with Assurant Employee Benefits’ Dental PPO plans. A PPO allows insurance companies to negotiate directly with providers for dental services at a lower price than would typically be charged.

Ask us about Assurant’s broad range of dental plans.

Aetna

smartfoxes — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:04:51 +0000

Aetna – Helping people achieve health and financial security

Aetna is one of the nation’s leaders in health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, and disability insurance, and employee benefits. Dedicated to helping people achieve health and financial security, Aetna offers a broad range of insurance and employee benefits products plus vast resources for producers and employers to help them make the right choices.

The Aetna health care network has:

More than 1 million health care professionals
More than 575,000 primary care doctors and specialists
More than 5,400 hospitals
A network of specialist physicians, recognized with Aexcel® designation, based on clinical performance and cost efficiency.

Aetna provides benefits through employers in the United States and internationally, with products and services targeted specifically to small, mid-sized and large multi-site national employers, as well as global health insurance for employees on temporary or permanent foreign assignments.

Ask us about Aetna’s health insurance products including Medical, Dental, Life and Global insurance.

Producer Appointment

If you or your firm is not yet appointed with Aetna, please apply online:

https://pangea.geninfo.com/Aetna/Apply

Lincoln Financial

smartfoxes — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:02:21 +0000

Lincoln Financial – A tradition of strength

The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana on June 12, 1905. Its 33 founders envisioned an insurance company rooted in dependability and honesty.

During its first 50 years, Lincoln Life grew to become the ninth largest life insurance company in the United States.

Believing that nothing is as important as the safety and security of the people you care about, Lincoln Financial provides a full suite of products to help businesses protect the health and well-being of employees, and to support clients and employees in the event of income disruption.

Ask us about health insurance products from Lincoln Financial including Small Group Dental, Disability and Life Insurance.

Who gets health insurance rebates under new law?

smartfoxes — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:56:14 +0000

Rebates totaling $1.3 billion from health insurance companies should go to more than 3 million individual policyholders and thousands of employers this year because of President Barack Obama’s health care law, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation says.

Here’s how the law works:

- Insurers covering individual consumers and small employers must spend at least 80 percent of the premiums they collect on medical care and quality improvements. The benchmark is 85 percent of premiums for insurers covering large employers.

- Insurance companies must provide rebates if they do not meet those standards.

Aetna Makes it Easier to Manage Online Enrollment

smartfoxes — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:38:33 +0000

Your new Aetna group will be notified by mail on how to register. eEnrollment (formerly Aetna Enroll) is Aetna’s online enrollment administration for Plan Sponsors.

Here are just a few of the many ways eEnrollments can be used to manage their company’s benefits:

Allows them complete enrollment and termination online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Makes benefits administration and management easier
Saves time and paperwork
Helps them create custom reports

Aetna is making enhancements to eEnrollment to make online benefits administration even easier and more convenient for you and your clients. Some of the enhancements being made are:

Multiple waiting periods will now be supported.
Additional plan descriptions will now be available to help plan sponsors choose the correct plans (for example, divisions, hourly, salary, etc.)

There will be a new screen enhancement to remind plan sponsors that benefit elections require carrier approval (also known as the “90 day look-back message”). The “90 day look-back message” will apply to all new enrollment transactions (subscribers and dependents) that are submitted to Aetna up to 90 days after a new group’s effective date. The new enrollment will not be added to the Aetna system until Underwriting approves the transaction.

Aetna Special Programs

smartfoxes — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:37:32 +0000

Aetna offers several special programs to all CEHIT, and Alaska Small Groups. A few of these programs are highlighted below:

Informed Health Line – Talk to a registered nurse 24/7! Call the toll free number for information on thousands of health topics, and for advice on how to ask the right questions and describe health symptoms more effectively during your next doctor visit.

EAP – Aetna’s Employee Assistance Program provides confidential support for employees, and members of their household, for managing everyday challenges at work and home.

Aetna Fitness Discount Program – Receive discounts on gym memberships, weight loss programs, smoking cessation coaching, and home exercise equipment. Registration is available through the Global Fit website at www.globalfit.com/fitness.

Please review the CEHIT Enrollment Guide or the Alaska Small Group Enrollment Guide for a full list of the programs available for our members.

Survey: Growth in health costs is slowing

smartfoxes — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:39:31 +0000

Healthcare costs aren’t growing quite as rapidly as they have in the past, according to new research from Buck Consultants.

The study predicts that health insurance costs will rise this year by less than 10 percent — the first time growth has been that low in more than a decade. The findings could undermine Republicans’ argument that President Obama’s healthcare law is driving costs higher.

State moves to limit ER visits

smartfoxes — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:39:00 +0000

The Washington State Health Care Authority is working with the Washington State Hospital Association and physicians on a legislative mandate to reduce non-emergency use of hospital emergency departments as well as over-utilization of emergency services beginning July 1.

The new plan — included in the Supplemental Budget passed on April 11 by the Legislature — replaces earlier state proposals that would have limited the annual number of non-emergency visits by a client to the emergency department and to stop reimbursing hospitals and physicians for treatments and services that are not medically necessary in the setting of an emergency department.