The Benefits Brief

On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein sits down with Perry Braun, executive director of the Benefit Advisors Network. The two discuss President Biden’s first 100 days in office, the impact of the pandemic on our industry, current and future industry trends, NAHU’s advocacy efforts and more. Benefit Advisors Network is comprised of agencies in the employee be...

The pandemic has made it more evident than ever how important it is to focus on mental and behavioral health. Along with other legislative working groups, NAHU’s Mental Health Task Force, which was first created last year, explores legislative and regulatory developments as they relate to mental health parity in the market. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Dede Kennedy and Trac...

Democrats were able to pass the American Rescue Plan Act last month using their razor-thin majority in the Senate by utilizing budget reconciliation. Now, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that Democrats could use the reconciliation process again if they so choose. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, John Greene and Chris Hartmann discuss what could be passed as a result of this ru...

Last week, the Department of Labor released guidance regarding the COBRA subsidy provisions of the American Rescue Plan, offering much-needed answers to some frequently asked questions agents, brokers, employers and consumers have had over the last month. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner reviews this guidance, what it answers and what it doesn’t answer. To lear...

Congress is out of session this week, but while they are on recess the Healthcare Happy Hour is focused on innovation. On this week’s episode, we are joined by special guest Dr. Daniel Kraft, a Stanford- and Harvard-trained physician and scientist, and the host of CVS Health’s new podcast Healthy Conversations. Dr. Kraft discusses the many innovations in technology that will hopefully bring down h...

“Transparency” is the word on this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, as we are joined by special guest Cynthia Fisher, founder and chairman of Patient Rights Advocate, a nonprofit organization focused on transparency in healthcare. In addition to Cynthia, we are also joined by NAHU Legislative Council Vice Chair and staunch transparency advocate Mark Gaunya. The two have a conversation...

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law a few weeks ago, and with it came an abundance of compliance concerns. Last week, NAHU hosted a Compliance Corner webinar presented by Vice President and Director of Employee Benefit Compliance for First Insurance Group Barb Gerken. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Barb joins us again along with Compliance Corner Co...

This is the second part of a conversation between Marcy M. Buckner, Mark Gaunya and Dan Parker about NAHU’s first-ever virtual Capitol Conference. In Part 1 we discussed what attendees heard from the keynote speakers, members of Congress, Jeff Grant from CMS/CCIIO, and Avik Roy from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. This week, we are talking about what attendees heard from NAHU’s c...

We know you anticipated part two of our Capitol Conference recap, but we decided to push that to next Friday, March 19, because earlier this week Congress passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, another immense piece of legislation aimed at providing COVID-19 relief to businesses and consumers. On this week’ episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris H...

Welcome back to the Healthcare Happy Hour after our short Capitol Conference hiatus. And what a Cap Con it was! We were able to bring to you legislators from both sides of the aisle, innovative thinkers in health economics, a big name from CMS, coalition partners and, of course, our keynotes - Dr. Deepak Chopra and Shasta Nelson. Today Marcy M. Buckner and Dan Parker are joined by Legislative Coun...

We are just three days away from our 31st annual Capitol Conference so if you haven’t registered yet – registration closes tomorrow, so what are you waiting for? Go to NAHU.org now! And while you register, listen to Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann talk about one of the most pertinent issues our industry is facing – the potential for a public option or single-payer healthcare syste...

We are rapidly approaching our 31st annual – and first-ever virtual - Capitol Conference. We are reviewing NAHU’s legislative priorities in detail leading up to the conference so that you are prepared for meetings with your members of Congress. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann talk about what NAHU is asking for in the areas of Me...

We are less than three weeks away from our 31st Annual – and first-ever virtual - Capitol Conference! As promised, we are reviewing NAHU’s legislative priorities in detail leading up to our conference so that you are prepared for your meetings with your member of Congress. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses what NAHU is asking for from legislators in th...

On last week’s edition of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we briefly discussed our general talking points that Capitol Conference attendees will use in their meetings with their members of Congress – those are available in the Advocacy section of the NAHU website. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, John Greene and Chris Hartmann discuss what it’s like lobbying virtually and how to con...

Earlier this week, NAHU released the general talking points that Capitol Conference attendees will use in their meetings with their members of Congress. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner gives a brief overview of these talking points and what you can expect if you attend the first-ever virtual Capitol Conference. Leading up to Capitol Conference, the Healthcare...

As we discussed on last week’s podcast, Democrats now have a narrow majority in the Senate, meaning President-Elect Joe Biden will have a much easier time forming his cabinet. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann discuss Biden’s nominations for key positions so far, including secretary of Health and Human Services, attorney general,...

Jon Ossoff and The Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock emerged victorious in Tuesday’s Georgia runoffs, meaning the Senate is now split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with the vice president able to break any ties. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann explain what this means for Congressional politics moving forward.