Dr. James Weinstein, a back pain specialist and chief executive of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System, has some advice for most people with lower back pain: Take two aspirin and don’t call me in the morning. On Monday, the American College of Physicians published updated guidelines that say much the same. In making the new recommendations for […]
One of the most respected and influential groups in the continuing breast-cancer screening debate said on Tuesday that women should begin mammograms later and have them less frequently than it had long advocated. The American Cancer Society, which has for years taken the most aggressive approach to screening, issued new guidelines on Tuesday, recommending that […]
The Affordable Care Act’s mandated expansion of the definition of the small group market would limit employers’ health plan options, according to employer groups who are urging the repeal of the mandate before it takes effect in 2016. Expanding the small group market to include groups up to 100 would not only reduce choice for […]
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the 2016 inflation-adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as determined under the Internal Revenue Code. Annual Contribution Limitation For calendar year 2016, the annual limitation on deductions for an individual with self-only coverage under a high deductible health plan is $3,350. The annual limitation on HSA deductions […]
The heartburn drug Nexium — whose advertisements have long been ubiquitous on television — was prescribed to 1.5 million Medicare patients in 2013, for a total cost of more than $2.5 billion, the largest amount spent on any drug prescribed through the government program, according to data released by Medicare officials on Thursday. The data was the most […]
Employees have their eyes set on vision insurance, as sales have increased close to 25% since 2013 and are leading the pack in worksite voluntary sales growth. In fact, voluntary benefits sales increased 5% in 2014 compared to 2013, marking the fourth straight year of growth for voluntary, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Worksite Sales survey. […]