With the recent addition of benefits industry veteran Steve Parsons, the Chelko Consulting Group continues to expand its team of subject matter experts.
Throughout his career, Steve has focused on optimizing the value of clients’ employee benefits programs. His insights, creativity, and actuarial expertise have been key in building foundations for short- and long-term plan management success.
(more…)
In a highly anticipated decision issued on June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act (Title VII) protects individuals against employment discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. (more…)
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a fee on health insurance issuers and self-insured plan sponsors in order to fund comparative effectiveness research. These fees are widely known as Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees, and were originally scheduled to expire for plan or policy years ending on or after Oct. 1, 2019. However, a federal spending bill enacted at the end of 2019 extended the PCORI fees for an additional 10 years. (more…)
If recent events have taught us anything, it is to be prepared for the unexpected. While none of us could have fully predicted the dramatic impact of COVID-19 on our families, organizations, and the world economy, hindsight reveals safeguards we might have put in place to lessen the damage.
Ironically, this is a subject I had been wrestling with well before the coronavirus was receiving any attention from the international media. Those of you who follow our firm’s work know we have long been concerned about the growing economic threat posed by rising specialty drug costs to employer-funded health plans and their members. It actually dates back to 2005, when I first learned about a $125,000 oncology drug that didn’t save lives. On average, it only extended life by less than two months of sub-optimal living. (more…)