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Big Changes May Be Coming to Retirement Plans

"A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House that would make significant changes to 401(k), 403(b), IRAs and other retirement plans. From increasing the required minimum distribution (RMD) and catch-up contributions to expanding automatic enrollment and the Saver's Credit, the legislation is poised to expand retirement savings options for millions of individuals."

Blue Cross Plans May Be Obamacare's Fire Wall

"The nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans could be the biggest benefactor of insurers leaving public exchanges under the [ACA]. So far, most Blue Cross plans have said they remain supporters of public exchanges and will maintain offerings for 2017. This includes the nation's biggest Blue Cross plan, Anthem, which operates in 14 states and will expand to more markets should it win regulatory approval of its Cigna acquisition."

Value-Based Mental Health May Be 'Gold' for Insurers

"News that one of the nation's largest health insurance companies is pursuing an evidence-based approach to substance abuse treatment and opioid addiction could potentially speed up the slow march away from fee-for-service mental health treatment. But Cigna and other health insurers that escalate their shift to value-based payments could reap a potential bonanza by reimbursing psychiatrists and other mental health providers based on how they improve the care of their patients, mental health advocates say."

If They Ever Fix the Obamacare Website, the Worst May Be Yet to Come

"Despite so much deserved scrutiny over the health insurance website, the weakest cog, perhaps, is the law's individual mandate. The purpose of the mandate is notoriously simple: to cajole or compel tens of millions of healthy young people to greatly overpay for health insurance so that older, sicker, and (for the most part) wealthier people can greatly underpay. To pass the law, Congress stripped this cog of its teeth, and the Supreme Court later removed its linchpin.... With the moral implications stripped away by the Court, failing to buy insurance is no more immoral than declining to eat a plate of liver."

Trump May Revisit Most Favored Nation Model for Drug Prices

"[I]nternational price referencing for certain prescription drugs may be on the table during the second Trump administration. Broadly, this is a system of price controls in which an average or minimum price across a group of countries with similar gross domestic output per capita can serve as an anchor towards which differing prices may converge over time."

Obamacare MLR Rebate May Mean Perks, Day Off From Health Costs

"Lower premiums, a day off from health costs or maybe a wellness visit may be headed to certain workers in the coming months thanks to a part of the federal health law that requires a rebate from plans that don't spend at least 4 of every 5 premium dollars on medical care.... The medical-loss ratio requirements affect state-regulated health plans, which are expected to be the main choice of uninsured Americans when they shop for health benefits on insurance exchanges expected to begin operating by 2014. The rules do not impact self-insured health plans that are generally offered by large companies."

Employers May Follow Medicare Coverage of GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs

"Currently, fewer than one in five large employers are covering such prescriptions despite the boom in popularity of expensive GLP-1 drugs to treat weight loss ... [Employers] who follow the Biden administration's move to expand access to anti-obesity medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy ... should be prepared to pay bigger health insurance premiums for their workers."

Do-It-Yourself Retirement: There's a Tool Kit on the Web to Help You Do It

Excerpt: As the box on page 94 [of this Forbes Magazine article] shows, a slew of sophisticated do-it-yourself retirement planning tools are now available on the Web at little or no cost to help you gauge your prospects and calibrate the tradeoffs you may have to make. [See 'The Best of the Web Retirement Planning Tools' at http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0606/092sidebar.html.]

The Employer Mandate Delay May Have Drastic Consequences

"The result could well be a substantial collapse of employer-sponsored health coverage -- something which could not be easily be rebuilt the following year if the employer mandate is imposed then.... In order to keep health plans solvent, premiums will have to go up -- and for every increase, more people will decide they are better off without coverage.... The individual mandate penalty was supposed to limit this effect, and the employer mandate was supposed to isolate most workers from it. With both of those mandates delayed, unenforceable, or gone completely, there is nothing to prevent an upward spiral of premiums, higher taxpayer-funded subsidies and more people being uninsured."

The Employer Mandate Delay May Have Drastic Consequences

"The result could well be a substantial collapse of employer-sponsored health coverage -- something which could not be easily be rebuilt the following year if the employer mandate is imposed then.... In order to keep health plans solvent, premiums will have to go up - ? and for every increase, more people will decide they are better off without coverage.... The individual mandate penalty was supposed to limit this effect, and the employer mandate was supposed to isolate most workers from it. With both of those mandates delayed, unenforceable, or gone completely, there is nothing to prevent an upward spiral of premiums, higher taxpayer-funded subsidies and more people being uninsured."