Consumer-Driven Health Care Transforms Patient Role
According to a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis, there is a
shift to a consumer-driven health care system, aided by advances in technology,
which is motivating and enabling individuals to better manage their own health
care. The report, Consumer-Driven Health Care: The Changing Role of the Patient, reviews the traditional health care paradigm and explores why and how individuals increasingly are becoming the primary managers of their own health care.
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Coping with Language Barriers in Benefits Communications
From its founding, the United States has been a multi-cultural and multi-lingual nation. This demographic reality has continued to the present day.
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) on language characteristics and literacy illustrate the linguistic diversity of this country. For example, according to one DOE report and based on an analysis of Census Bureau data, during the 1980s, the number of persons age five years and older who spoke a language other than English increased 41%. The most significant increases were in Spanish, Asian, and Pacific Islander languages. The report went on to state that among those who spoke a language other than English at home, 47% said they had difficulty speaking and understanding English. Furthermore, a DOE survey conducted in the 1990s reported that 10% of the population spoke no English at all before entering school.
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Disability Insurance: A Valuable Addition to Any Benefits Package
Many individuals consider their home to be their largest asset. However, for nearly all people, their most valuable asset is their ability to work and earn an income.
According to the Social Security Administration, studies have shown that a 20-year-old worker has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age. Working adults are more likely to become disabled than they are to die. Yet, while people often obtain some form of life insurance, the need to insure against disability is frequently overlooked.
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Specialty Drugs Pose Health Cost Management Challenge
Though increases in prescription drug spending still outpace the overall health
care inflation rate, the pharmaceutical spending trend has moderated somewhat.
According to the Segal Company’s 2006 Health Care Cost Trend Survey, the cost increase for a prescription drug carve-out plan covering active employees and pre-65 retirees is running at 15.2% for retail drugs and 15.5% for mail-order drugs in 2005, and is projected to fall to 13.8% for retail drugs and 14.5% for mail-order drugs in 2006. These levels, according to Segal, are close to those of 1998.
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