Each year, businesses offer employees the opportunity to sign up for, reevaluate, change, cancel, or otherwise adjust their healthcare plan during the open enrollment period. This timeframe also applies to individuals who participate in government-based Marketplace health plans on some level, which has an enrollment deadline in mid-August.

Generally, employees are not able to engage in any insurance-related activity outside the open enrollment timeframe. However, there are some exceptions to the rule.

To help employees interested in changing health insurance outside of open enrollment, keep reading.

The efforts to recognize mental health issues as critical as physical issues have gone on for several decades. Finally, in 1996, the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) was enacted to prohibit large group health plans from imposing limits on mental health benefits, especially when less than favorable limits were imposed on surgical or medical benefits.

When companies start to approach the big 5-0 in terms of staffing, Human Resource (HR) teams face new levels of intensity when it comes to legal matters. It’s far easier to maintain a one-on-one approach to employee relations and compliance with smaller numbers. However, once your business reaches the level of success where you need more people to drive that momentum, you incur more risk.

More than a year since the start of the pandemic, we are continuing to monitor the ripple effects on business operations worldwide. As one of the most highly visible – and scrutinized – sectors of the economy, the health insurance sector was forced to grapple with an extraordinary crisis. Although insurance analysts will be studying the influence of COVID-19 for years to come – and some of the pandemic’s effects have yet to be determined – here’s what we know about the impact of COVID-19 on the insurance market so far.

Health insurance is essential to help cover medical costs. However, the patient can easily get confused when they need to determine which of their doctor visits and medical expenses will be covered versus those that won’t. It becomes even more confusing when the patient’s doctor is unexpectedly gone from their current health plan.

The question comes down to whether your doctors and other healthcare providers are in network vs out of network.

The new normal is a regular topic of conversation. However, this isn’t necessarily a water cooler conversation at the office. Wearing masks, concerns of contracting COVID, being home a lot more often, educating our kids from home, and work from home jobs are all part of our current “normal.”

Unemployment insurance is provided to unemployed individuals that meet specific eligibility requirements set forth by the state in which they live. In the state of California, unemployment insurance is available to individuals who meet the monetary requirement of working and earning a certain number of wages within the previous 18 months before filing. They must also be unemployed through no fault of their own, be available and able to work, be willing to accept suitable work offered, and be actively seeking employment to qualify. Once an individual is approved for unemployment benefits, they must recertify each week to continue receiving weekly benefits.

Millennials are now at the stage in life where they need financial services. Many have already begun securing student loans, purchasing or renting homes, buying cars, and auto insurance policies. They also need health insurance for themselves or a family. Having children adds another layer of assessment for present and future financial services. 

The importance of mental wellbeing was already gaining traction pre-COVID-19. With employees having to deal with the pandemic due to COVID-19, it has become a primary topic of conversation at company leadership meetings across the board. Companies are discussing ways to step up to the plate and support their employees by expanding their mental health benefits to help employees cope.

We typically don’t like to think that we might one day be disabled and unable to work due to an illness or injury. Statistics show, however, that disabilities occur at all ages. Per the Council for Disability Awareness, one in four 20-year-olds will be disabled prior to reaching retirement age.