Drugmakers Raising Prices on Over 350 Drugs in January
From Reuters: "Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca PLC and Sanofi SA plan to raise prices in the United States on more than 350 unique drugs in early January, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3...
Have Your Members Made the Switch Yet to Electronic EOBs?
Less than 10% of plan members have made the switch to electronic explanations of benefits (EOBs) on MedBen Access... and there are benefits to going "paperless" that have nothing to do with saving trees (though that's not a bad thing, either). By using MedBen Access...
IRS Expands Change-in-Status Rules for Cafeteria Plans
Once again, the IRS is seeking to increase access to federal Health Insurance Exchange coverage... this time, by offering greater flexibility to sponsors of cafeteria plans. As explained in Notice 2022-41, the IRS has expanded the change-in-status rules for...
A Note from Our President & CEO
On behalf of our entire team, I wish you a Happy New Year and thank you for your continued business with MedBen. We often say that “MedBen Delivers,” and it’s a statement that covers a variety of factors such as plan design strategies, claims processing accuracy, and...
MedBen Rx Has Solutions for Rising Specialty Drug Costs
From earlier this year: "Health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that manage drug costs... say specialty drugs now account for 50% or greater of the total prescription spending they manage. In some cases, employer clients are seeing specialty costs account...
IRS Issues Final Rule to Grant Automatic Extensions for 1095 Reporting
First, the good news: Just in time, the IRS has issued a final rule making permanent the automatic 30-day extension deadline to furnish employees their Affordable Care Act (ACA) 1095 forms. The final rule (Information Reporting of Health Insurance Coverage and...
Pharmaceutical Companies Represent Nearly 2/3rds of Top Health Care Lobbyists
A review of the biggest spenders in health care lobbying by OpenSecrets reveals that, in the leadup to the 2021-22 election cycle, 16 of the top 25 lobbyists were pharmaceutical & health product organizations (see table below). The top health care lobbyist,...
MedBen Announces Promotions of Hupp, Lowe
MedBen is pleased to announce the promotions of Brooke Hupp and Lindsay Lowe to Regional Sales Directors. As members of the MedBen Sales team, Hupp has served current and prospective clients in portions of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee since 2014, while Lowe has...
Season’s Greetings from MedBen!
MedBen will be closed on Monday, December 26 to celebrate the Christmas holiday, and reopen at 8:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, December 27. For the New Year’s holiday we will be closed on Monday, January 2, and reopen at 8:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 3. Remember that if...
Gene Therapy: Big Benefits at a Big Cost
The Self-Insurer magazine recently examined the emergence of innovative gene therapies that carry substantial benefits... and hefty price tags. The FDA just approved a hemophilia B gene therapy that costs $3.5 million a dose, making it the world's most expensive...
NSA Employee Q&A Available for MedBen Clients
The No Surprises Act and Transparency in Coverage rules (NSA) have prompted a number of questions about how it affects employer plan sponsors... so it should come as, well, no surprise that plan members also have their own questions about what the rules mean to them....
Latest Weight Loss Drug Fad Comes with Cautions… and a High Cost
The latest "Hollywood weight-loss drug" has generated interest for its pound-shedding potential, but doctors caution that its benefits should be measured against other factors. Approved by the FDA in 2017 for type 2 diabetes treatment, Semaglutide (sold under the...