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"Stashed away in the byzantine language of the Affordable Care Act are rules that have caused a big bang-size explosion in health care startups--led by founders who will reinvent the health care industry." -Jeff Bercovici recently commented on the opportunity the ACA presents to entrepreneurs, writing for Inc.

Felice J. Freyer of the Boston Globe writes about how publishing the cost of health care services does not actually lead to decreased consumer spending on those services.

Lisa Aliferis recently wrote for KQED about the important differences between California's "active purchaser" exchange and exchanges in other states where any plan that seeks to participate is included without negotiation of premiums and benefits.

Dave Chase recently wrote for Forbes about how the irrational set of circumstances in which the healthcare industry finds itself have certain implications - the continued hyperinflation of premiums would accelerate the employer realization that they need to take matters into their own hands and disintermediate healthcare plans. A growing number of employers are doing exactly that.

It’s the season for mid-year healthcare plan renewals. As such, many organizations are likely re-examining their current healthcare plans (and possibly brokers) to determine if there’s any room for improvement and/or more savings. But while a large percentage of small-to-midsize nonprofits typically opt for traditional fully-funded employee healthcare, partially self-funded healthcare might actually be a better option.

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This week the Kaiser Family Foundation released an insight brief on actual employee cost-sharing data for healthcare spending as reported between 2004-2014. By analyzing a sample of health benefit claims over that decade, researchers were able to identify how consumer spending on deductibles, copays, and coinsurance has changed.

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A recent CFO survey by Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) highlights the importance of CFO involvement in employee healthcare decisions. While cost control tops the list of CFO goals around healthcare at 44%, other top-of-mind goals include recruitment and retention (36% rank this as the most important goal), helping employees make smarter healthcare choices, and increasing worker productivity. Of those surveyed, 43% say they are equal partners with their HR department in making healthcare decisions.

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Health Policy Brief: High-Deductible Health Plans, a new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation highlights the growing popularity of high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and how they are impacting the healthcare market. The debate centers on whether HDHPs actually help reduce spending, especially the 30 percent that the Institute of Medicine calls “a waste,” but at the same time don’t prevent consumers from using insurance for necessary treatments.

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An analysis of data taken from a 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has found that 25 million adults in the US have some sort of chronic pain (at varying levels of severity), and 40 million are living with severe pain that impacts their overall health.  That means almost 30% of the adult US population is walking around each feeling some level of pain. Chances are good, you are one of them.

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With the recently announced two-year delay of the Cadillac tax (from 2018 to 2020) and the pending presidential election debating the entirety of the ACA, its unclear if the 40% excise tax will ever become a reality. In theory, the tax is meant to reduce employer and employee healthcare spending and help fund the expansion of the ACA.  In reality, companies of all sizes are fighting against it saying that the toll will significantly impact the affordability and accessibility of healthcare for US workers. And with healthcare costs skyrocketing, well beyond normal wage growth and inflation, the Cadillac tax seems almost unavoidable, if it comes to fruition in 2020.