Smokers Cost Employers $12K More Per Year (each) than Non-smokers

by LAS

Studies show that each smoker costs a company an average of $12,000 a year more than non-smokers. Inspired by a California study that showed every dollar spent by the state on smoking-cessation programs saved $18 in health care costs – more employers are moving to start smoke-free policies or tobacco-cessation programs in the workplace.

Employers do have to skirt some smokers' rights laws in a few states to avoid discrimination lawsuits if they become too invasive.

In just 29 states, the employers are limited to prohibiting smoking in the workplace, and states may prohibit smoking in public places. They have what is called “lifestyle laws” that protect workers. Employers may not take smoking into account regarding promotions, hiring or firing.

These laws, one must admit, are pretty toothless. It is difficult to prove that an employer violated the law because they know enough to provide some other, innocuous reason for not hiring or promoting someone.

Some of the state laws are even weaker. The Virginia law apply only to state employees. Three states – Minnesota, Illinois, and Montana – protect smokers rights but allow employers to charge higher premiums for the smokers. Three states – Tennessee, Louisiana, and Colorado – apply their protection of smokers to future hires, not current employees (when the law was passed).

Smokers who try to quit generally have to make many attempts before it sticks. Statistically, it takes seven attempts for a smoker to quit smoking. So keeping trying, you never know what approach will finally help you reach your goal.

Is It Ever a Good Idea to Decline Employer Insurance Coverage?

by L.A.S.

Much to my surprise, a recent article on Wise Bread dot com suggested there might be three occasions when you might reasonably consider declining your employer's health plan.

DECLINE your employer's health plan? The very thought at one time would certainly have made one's blood run cold, especially for those who have families on such a plan.

First, to clarify. They are NOT suggesting that you simply go without insurance. They are simply saying that you may have other viable options.

You may be one of the lucky few who can find a better deal by yourself, whether online or just because you have few medical needs; perhaps you wish to go with a medical savings account or one of those self-directed programs. You may be offered a plan for a supplemental type of insurance such as vision or dental that is more than just a few bucks per month -- and has so little benefit that it defies the purpose of insurance. Or you may be able to obtain a fine plan through another group or through your spouse's employment.

I have probably been in any of those situations myself. For a time, I had a high-deductible health plan with my (former) employer that was a free option. Yes, it was free coverage from the very nice employer, as an alternative to the sticker shock from a huge premium increase.

My vision and dental coverage WAS only a couple bucks a month, so I kept it as long as the premiums were so low. But eventually those premiums rose even faster than the medical plan premiums. And when I went in for a service at a local dentist, I was always forced to sign a paper saying that I would pay the balance that the insurance did not cover. Whoa, that defeated the whole purpose of insurance, to my mind. So eventually, when the premiums reached a break-even point, I just dropped it.

And thankfully, I have found some insurances through other groups that I belong to. I have mentioned some of these strategies in my articles here at Blogspot. People over 50 may find coverage through a membership in AARP, if nothing else is available. Perhaps you belong to a fraternal organization or a club, or a professional group, or even AAA. Even your membership in a buying club like Sam's Club may bring you special prices, not on insurance, but on vision and prescription services. Any or all of them may have an insurance plan or plans for their membership, with no medical exam or other pre-qualification required.

You can read the whole article and decide for yourself at -- www.wisebread.com/3-times-to-consider-declining-your-employers-health-coverage

Looking for a Company to Handle Enrollments? Lots to Choose From

by L.A.S. --

If you cannot find a company to handle the enrollment process for your group health plans (or other insurance plans), then by gosh, you just are not looking. There are so many companies that handle this service, that I cannot give a comprehensive listing of all the variables in types of policies they service, whether they do online enrollment (most do) or webcast, or how big your group has to be. I will just give you the company name, website and phone number.

I will, however, also list here those that do phone enrollment: 4MyBenefits, Aegias Corp., Alliance Benefit Group, American Insurnet, ATD Employer Solutions, Benefit Associates, Benefit Communications, Benefit Enrollment Services, Benefit Express, Benefit Resources, Benefit Decisions, Benelogic, Black Mountain Group, CB Solutions, Clear Benefits, Colonial Life has an enrollment call center option, Complete Benefit alliance, Cornerstone, Corporate Benefit Solutions (call center), Corporate Benefit Specialists, Cost Containment Group, Emerson Reid, Empliant, Employee Benefit Comm., Employee Family Protection, Employee Security Plans (call center), EOI Service, Government Benefit Services, H & G Benefits, HR Technology Advisors, Impact Enrollment, ING (thru enrollment firms), National Benefit Consultants, National Benefits Group of America, National Enrollment Services, Online Insurance Services, OptiMed Health Plans, Parker Group, SHPS, Titan Benefit (dedicated call center), United Group Programs, Univers Workplace Benefits (3 call centers across the country), Wachovia Insurance, Workscape, Worksite Services.
This info is dated from 2008, the most recent available -- so bear in mind that some details may have changed. Good luck!

4MyBenefits: 800-734-5144; 4mybenefits.com; all states.
A.D.A.M. Inc.: 516-414-7000; adam.com, all states.
AEGIAS Corp.: 800-537-5154; aegias.com; all states.
Alliance Benefit Group: abgnational.com; all states.
American Insurenet: 800-333-4638 x125; americaninsurnet.com, all states EXCEPT HI, NY.
Andrew & Alexander Inc.: 888-636-0404; only in AR, LA, OK, TX.
ATD Employer Solutions: 877-782-8060; atdemployersolutions.com; only in IL, IN, IA, MO, WI.
Benefit Associates Inc.: 800-400-8016; benecenter.com; all states.
Benefit Communications Inc.: 800-489-3786; benefitcommunications.com; all states.
Benefit Enrollment Services Inc.: 800-838-1320; besibenefits.com; available in AZ, CA, FL, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MN, MS, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, WV, WI.
Benefit Express: 847-637-1551; benefitexpress.info; all states.
Benefit Resources Inc.: 800-339-4793; britulsa.com; available in AZ, CA, CO, GA, IA, KS, LA, MO, NE, OK, PA, TX.
BenefitDecisions: 312-376-0442; benefitdecisions.com; all states.
Benelogic: 877-716-8778; benelogic.com; all states.
BeneTrac: 619-788-5800; BeneTrac.com; all states.
Black Mountain Group: 312-376-0442; blackmountaingroup.com; all states.
Brokers National Life Assurance Co.: 800-798-1125; bnlac.com; available in all states EXCEPT CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, RI, VT.
CBSolutions: 800-941-9714; cbsolutionslic.net; all states.
ClearBenefits: 888-398-9534; myclearbenefits.com; all states.
Colonial Life: 800-845-7330; ColonialLife.com; all states EXCEPT NY.
Complete Benefit Alliance: 800-211-2797; cba-companies.com; all states.
Cornerstone Enrollment Services: 866-370-3401; Cornerstonevb.com; all states.
Corporate Benefit Solutions Inc.: 888-313-7299; cbs-ga.com; available in AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, MO, NC, SC, TN, TX.
Corporate Benefit Specialists: 800-264-0073; available in AR, CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, NC, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX.
Cost Containment Group: costcontainmentcorp.com; all states.
EMC National Life Co.: 515-345-4219; emcnl.com; all states EXCEPT NJ, NY.
Emerson Reid & Co.: 484-421-3414; emersonreid.com; all states.
Empliant: 919-968-9898; empliant.com; all states.
Employee Benefit Communications: 813-639-0099; ebcfl.com; all states.
Employee Family Protection Inc.: 860-659-1323; www.EFP@NOW.com; all states EXCEPT AR, HI, NM, WA.
Employee Security Plans Inc.: 800-373-3771; all states.
EOI Service Co. Inc.: 800-229-4364 x3303; eoiservice.com; all states.
Government Benefit Services: 561-427-7264; govbenefit.biz; all states.
H & G Benefits: 800-929-9525 x109; hngbenefits.com; all states except WY.
HR Technology Advisors: 508-520-9800; hrtadvisors.com; all states.
HRCG: 801-765-4417; hrconsultinggroup.com; all states.
Impact Enrollment Solutions: 888-846-1176; impactenrollment.com; all states.
Infinisource Inc.: 800-300-3838; all states.
ING Employee Benefits: 800-537-5024; ingemployeebenefits-us.com; all states.
Lincoln Financial Group: 877-Ask-Lincoln; LincolnFinancial.com; all states.
National Benefit Consultants Inc.: 480-940-0070; nbcbenefits.com; all states.
National Benefits Group of America: 800-330-7735; nbgamerica.net; all states.
National Enrollment Services: 800-966-6637; nesbenefits.com; all states.
Online Insurance Services Inc.: 866-266-3966; www.oisworld.com; available in AL, AK, AZ, AR, DE, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MS, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NC, ND, OH, O, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, WI, WY.
OptiMed Health Plans: 800-482-8770 x215; optimedhealth.com; all states EXCEPT CT, NH, VT, WA.
The Parker Group: 800-655-3161; parkerbenefits.com; all states.
Paylogix: 800-622-4131; paylogix.com; all states EXCEPT AK, NV, NH.
Rae Rocco: 702-897-9929; only in AZ, CA, NV, UT.
SHPS: 888-421-7477; carewisehealth.com; all states.
Titan Benefit Communications: 888-35-Titan; titan-benefits.com; all states.
Transcend Technologies Group: 877-426-8750; transcendtechgroup.com; all states.
United Group Programs Inc.: 800-482-8770 x215; ugpinc.com; all states.
Univers Workplace Benefits: 800-343-0240; universworkplace.com; all states.
Voluntary Benefits Systems Inc.: 800-229-1119; voluntarybenefits.net; all states.
Wachovia Insurance Services Inc.: WachoviaInsurance.com; all states.
Workscape: 508-573-9000; workscape.com; all states.
Worksite Services Inc.: 800-862-8963; worksiteservicesinc.com; available in FL, GA, NC, SC, TN, VA.

If You Depend on Your Employer for Health Ins., Don't Vote McCain

Hi, --
I don't generally talk about politics at all on this site. However, there are some clear differences between the two major presidential candidates when it comes down to how your health insurance will be affected.
It is already pretty clear that Sen. John McCain has plans to torpedo employer-paid health insurance coverage. How can a president do that? Pretty easy if he is able to push thru a proposed elimination of the tax break for the employer.
Currently the only way that employers are able to offer group coverage at all is because of the tax exclusion employer-paid health insurance.
Ostensibly the goal is to push individuals into state-run pools. But that means that individuals will have to pay 100% of their premiums, whereas now they pay anywhere from 20% to 50%. Some employers do not contribute anything now; they just sign up with an outside administrator like Administaff and let employees pick and choose what they need. And pay 100% of the cost.
Americans are being squeezed between spiraling increases in food bills, gas prices, and often in their mortgages if they got caught in the mortgage credit crunch. Where are they going to get the extra dollars to pay for 100% of their health insurance coverage too? AND pay income taxes on the benefits from your insurance plan??? Are they crazy???Here's a link to a great article on the changes being proposed; this is part one of a two-parter. I hope you benefit from reading it.
HEADLINE: McCain's Health Care Plan: Gut Employer-Based Insurance
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/93734/?page=entire
An Excerpt: So far, the press has failed to examine what's at stake here for workers and their bosses -- that, in the long run, employer coverage could disappear, and that, in the short run, they may have to pay taxes on some portion of their health benefits, no matter who wins in November. In effect, it's an unspoken tax increase which has yet to surface in campaign conversation.