Health plan costs vary significantly by industry and geography, the UBA 2015 health plan survey reveals. Retail, construction and hospitality employees cost the least to cover, while government (the historical cost leader) and finance (the new leader) employees cost the most. Plans in the Northeast cost the most, while costs in the Central U.S. are the lowest. Retail and construction employees pay the most toward their coverage, while government employees pay the least.

For more details on trends revealed by the survey, download a complimentary copy of the executive summary here. Contact your BDR account team to benchmark your plan against others in your region, industry or size bracket.   

In November, federal agencies issued a final rule that essentially combined a variety of interim final rules and non-regulatory guidance on a variety of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) initiatives such as grandfathered health plans, preexisting condition exclusions, internal and external appeals, rescissions of coverage, lifetime and annual limits, emergency care access and dependent coverage. The final rule was very similar to the previous guidance it consolidated and goes into effect on January 1, 2017.

The final rule also noted that various transitional rules are now void, such as the allowance of grandfathered health plans to exclude children under age 26 who were eligible for other group health plan coverage, and rules that provided a special enrollment period for children under age 26 who had been excluded from coverage.

See this paper for details on all rules and guidance. 

Q. If an employee chooses not to elect coverage for his or her spouse or dependents during open enrollment, would the spouse's or dependent's loss of coverage be a COBRA qualifying event?

 

A. No. An employee's decision to drop coverage is not a COBRA triggering event.