Speak with an adviser 678.821.3508

START HERE
START HERE
"Caregiving
Uncategorized

Caregiving Demands Take Toll on Workers: How Employers Can Help

by Inoventive Solutions
August 25, 2026

As Americans live longer, many of the country’s workers are balancing job responsibilities with caregiving duties — contributing to higher stress, lower productivity and increased burnout.

Caregiving demands can lead to absenteeism, distraction, fatigue and scheduling conflicts, while the emotional strain of supporting loved ones may reduce engagement and increase the risk of mistakes or accidents, which can turn into costly blowback for your organization. The challenge for employers is that many workers keep these struggles to themselves, potentially leading to them leaving due to the stress.

Since caregiving duties can fall on people of any generation, it’s important for your organization to have a plan to assist staff facing these added pressures.

Gen X most affected

Gen X workers (generally those ages 46 to 61) are feeling the greatest pressure, with many supporting aging parents whose health needs are increasing while still raising children or helping young adult children achieve financial independence.

A recent survey by resume platform Zety found that nearly one in four Gen X employees spends at least two full workdays each week caring for family members.

The challenge extends well beyond Gen X. Care.com’s “2026 Future of Benefits Report” found that:

  • Nearly half of full-time employees currently juggle caregiving responsibilities,
  • 37% of workers who care for aging relatives also support minor or adult children,
  • 53% of employees had missed work because of caregiving challenges,
  • 60% experienced increased workplace stress, and
  • Nearly half reported lower productivity while arranging or managing care.

Women continue to shoulder most unpaid caregiving responsibilities. According to AARP’s “Caregiving in the U.S.” survey, women account for 61% of unpaid family caregivers nationwide. Care.com also reported that nearly half of women who voluntarily left the workforce in 2025 cited caregiving responsibilities as a primary reason for doing so.

The effects

Employees facing ongoing caregiving strain may be more likely to:

  • Experience burnout,
  • Disengage at work,
  • Reduce their work hours,
  • Decline promotions, or
  • Leave the organization altogether.

Burnout and disengagement are especially damaging. They can lead to a higher risk of workplace accidents, lower productivity, poor performance and reduced employee morale. If a key employee leaves due to caregiving demands, it can deal a blow to your organization, regardless of whether they are in sales, administration, operations or management.

What employers can do

  • Offer flexible work arrangements — These remain one of the most effective tools. Allowing remote work, flexible schedules or compressed workweeks when practical can help employees manage medical appointments and caregiving emergencies without neglecting work responsibilities.
  • Expand caregiver benefits — These may include elder care referral services, backup care programs, dependent care assistance and employee assistance programs that provide counseling, planning resources and caregiver support.
  • Educate your staff — Make sure employees understand what benefits are available. Many are unaware that their benefit packages may include caregiving resources through employee assistance programs, health plans or third-party vendors.
  • Train managers to recognize caregiver stress — Encourage open communication and evaluate employees based on results rather than how many hours they are in the office. These practices can help them remain productive while managing family responsibilities.

If you have questions about caregiving benefits, please give us a call.

"Medicare"/
Uncategorized

CMS Revises Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Rules

by Inoventive Solutions
August 18, 2026

Employers that offer prescription drug coverage will need to take a fresh look at whether their plans qualify as creditable coverage after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized rules that take effect in 2027.

The changes follow a major redesign of Medicare Part D in 2025, which enhanced prescription drug benefits by significantly lowering enrollees’ maximum out-of-pocket costs. As a result, CMS concluded that the long-standing method employers use to determine whether their drug coverage is “creditable” no longer reflects today’s Medicare benefit.

The changes may be particularly important for employers that offer high-deductible health plans, as some of those plans could struggle to meet the new creditable coverage standards.

Why the changes matter

Employees generally must enroll in Medicare Part D when they first become eligible unless they have creditable prescription drug coverage through another source, such as an employer-sponsored health plan.

If they go at least 63 consecutive days without creditable coverage after becoming eligible, they may face a permanent late-enrollment penalty upon later enrollment in Part D.

Because of that, employers that offer prescription drug coverage typically must notify Medicare-eligible employees and dependents each year whether their coverage is creditable. The notice is usually distributed before the annual Medicare open enrollment period that begins Oct. 15.

What’s changing

For years, many employers have relied on a simplified “safe harbor” test to determine whether their prescription drug coverage qualified as creditable. The test generally requires plans to meet several basic coverage standards and pay at least 60% of prescription drug costs on average.

Beginning in 2027, that methodology goes away.

Instead, employers will generally need to:

  • Use actuarial testing to compare their prescription drug coverage with Medicare Part D, or
  • Use CMS’ revised simplified methodology.

Under the revised approach, employer plans generally must cover brand-name drugs, generic drugs and biological products, provide reasonable pharmacy access and pay an average of at least 73% of participants’ prescription drug costs in 2027. CMS has indicated that required actuarial values are expected to increase in future years.

The higher standard means some employer health plans that previously qualified as creditable may no longer do so without plan changes or a more detailed actuarial review.

High-deductible health plans may face particular challenges. CMS emphasized that HDHPs are not automatically considered non-creditable, and features such as coverage of certain preventive or maintenance medications before the deductible and lower member cost-sharing after the deductible is met may help some HDHPs satisfy the new standards.

Employers with HDHPs may want to work with us to determine whether any changes are needed before the 2027 plan year.

Next steps

As 2027 approaches, employers may want to:

  • Review whether their prescription drug coverage will continue to qualify as creditable.
  • Coordinate with us or their carriers to complete updated creditable coverage testing.
  • Pay attention to HDHPs, which may require additional analysis.
  • Update Medicare Part D creditable coverage notices, if necessary, before Medicare’s annual open enrollment.
  • Communicate changes early so Medicare-eligible employees can make informed enrollment decisions and avoid late-enrollment penalties.

Reviewing prescription drug benefits now can help employers avoid compliance issues and ensure that employees receive the information they need to make important Medicare coverage decisions.

"Rising
Uncategorized

Rising ACA Exchange Costs May Slow Interest in ICHRAs

by Inoventive Solutions
August 11, 2026

Individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements have attracted growing interest from employers looking for an alternative to traditional group health plans. However, a new survey suggests that rising Affordable Care Act Marketplace premiums following the expiration of enhanced federal subsidies may become one of the biggest obstacles to broader adoption.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Morgan Health surveyed nearly 1,000 employer benefits decision-makers and found that more than one-third were planning or evaluating an ICHRA. However, only 11% had implemented one, suggesting that many employers remained in the research stage rather than being ready to make the switch.

An ICHRA allows employers to contribute a fixed amount that employees use to purchase individual health insurance, usually through the ACA Marketplace, instead of participating in the employer’s group health plan. The arrangement gives employers predictable benefit costs while allowing employees to choose the plan that best fits their needs.

For 2026, employers can generally contribute up to $6,450 annually for self-only coverage and $13,100 for family coverage while meeting the ACA affordability standards. However, those amounts may not come close to covering premiums for many employees, raising concerns that they could face significantly higher costs if employers move from a group health plan to an ICHRA.

Employers’ biggest concerns

  • ACA Marketplace premiums. 85% of large employers, 81% of small employers offering health coverage and 79% of small employers without health coverage worried that individual-market premiums were too expensive for employees.
  • High out-of-pocket costs.84% of both large and small employers offering health coverage believed deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs could be too high for workers purchasing coverage on the exchange.
  • Marketplace quality concerns. Employers questioned whether individual-market provider networks and plan quality matched those of traditional group health plans.
  • Employees prefer group health plans. Employers said worker preference for traditional employer-sponsored coverage remained one of the biggest barriers to switching.
  • Limited knowledge of ICHRAs. Between 56% and 69% of employers correctly understood the basic ICHRA model, and 55% of small employers that did not offer health coverage were unaware that ICHRAs were even available.
  • Administrative complexity. Employers also expressed concerns about implementation, compliance requirements and ongoing administration.

Despite those concerns, employer interest continues to grow, according to the EBRI report. Employers with 100 or more workers expressed the strongest interest, with 62% saying they were likely to adopt an ICHRA within two years. Among small employers that did not offer health coverage, one in four said they would prefer offering an ICHRA rather than a traditional group health plan.

What employers said would increase adoption

According to the survey, employers said they would be more likely to offer an ICHRA if:

  • Provider networks in ACA Marketplace plans match the quality and choice available through group health plans (85%).
  • ICHRAs integrate with payroll systems (79%).
  • Employers could add supplemental benefit solutions (79%).
  • ICHRAs integrate more seamlessly with existing health benefits (78%).
  • More peer employers adopt ICHRAs (76%).
  • Federal or state tax credits encourage adoption.
  • The ACA Marketplace becomes more stable, affordable and predictable.
"Proposed
Uncategorized

Proposed Rule Would Make Electronic Health Plan Notices the Default

by Inoventive Solutions
August 4, 2026

The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a rule that would make electronic delivery the default for delivering many required health plan notices, a move that could significantly reduce paperwork and administrative costs for employers.

For employers, the proposal could substantially reduce the time and expense of printing, stuffing and mailing millions of required benefits notices each year. Employees may also find it easier to access important plan information on their phones or computers whenever they need it.

If finalized, the rule could cut the number of paper notices mailed each year from roughly 1.9 billion to fewer than 200 million, saving employers an estimated $402 million annually, according to the department. The proposal would affect approximately 2.8 million ERISA-covered health plans serving about 155 million participants.

How it would work

The proposed rule would allow electronic delivery of many health plan disclosures required under ERISA, including:

  • Summary plan descriptions
  • Summaries of material modifications
  • Summary annual reports
  • COBRA election and continuation coverage notices
  • HIPAA special enrollment notices
  • Claims and appeals determinations, including benefit denials
  • Other required health plan disclosures under ERISA

Employees and beneficiaries would receive an e-mail or text notification when these documents are available online.  They would still have the right to request free paper copies or opt out of electronic delivery altogether.

Current electronic delivery rules date to 2002 and generally limit default e-delivery to employees who have work-related computer access or have consented to receive documents electronically. The proposed rule would establish a broader safe harbor reflecting how employees communicate today and extend e-delivery to a much larger share of the workforce.

What employers can do now

While the rule has not yet been finalized, employers can begin preparing by:

  • Reviewing how they distribute health plan communications,
  • Confirming employee e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers are up to date,
  • Evaluating whether their benefits platforms can support electronic disclosures, and
  • Developing procedures for employees who prefer to receive paper notices.

If adopted, the rule would likely take effect for documents related to the 2028 plan year as it would be too late to implement for 2027.

Recent Posts
Recent Comments
    Archives
    Categories
    Meta