Does your business have UPMC for group health insurance? If so, this important notice is for you. As of April, UPMC will no longer send their clients paper bills. Instead, commercial accounts must receive and review their bills through Employer OnLine – an online portal to help you manage your group health account. You will also need to pay your bills using Employer OnLine. While some of our clients have already registered for this online portal, many still have questions about using this portal. To help you navigate this change, we’ve put together a guide to the most frequently asked question ..read more

Over the long term, self-insured group health plans save money and keep health insurance rising at reasonable rates, similar to inflation. Rather than receiving staggering group health increases, self-insured plans are more steady. But, self-insuring a group health plan often seems overwhelming. This type of group health insurance requires a lot – data collection, claims management, and the expertise needed to design your group’s plan.  And many organizations fear that their group might have a catastrophic claim. How would their organization pay for that?  These are valid concerns. T ..read more

Are you familiar with the PCORI fee?  If your business purchases group health insurance through an insurance company, you may not know about this government tax. Group health insurance companies are required to take care of this fee on behalf of your business. They write the cost of this fee directly into your premium. However, if your business has a self-funded group health insurance plan or uses HRAs to offset high deductibles, your business must pay the PCORI fee. What exactly is the PCORI fee? What do you need to know if your business self-funds its group health insurance or provides ..read more

Is this a familiar scene?  You arrive at the airport and need to get a rental car for your family vacation.  The rental car attendant tells you what they have available. You pick out an economical car (because you know with inflation right now, you need to find ways to save money–no fun Jeep with the top removed for you. It’s a Toyota Prius hybrid instead.) Anyway, the attendant puts a ton of paperwork in front of you to sign before leaving with the car. And one of those papers is the option to purchase rental car insurance. As I said, you don’t want to spend on something you don’t n ..read more

Has your employer recently added a Health Reimbursement Arrangement or HRA as part of your group health insurance program?  If you’re new to HRAs, you might be confused about it. You probably have questions about how to use your HRA.  As an employee benefits broker, I help my clients’ employees better understand how their HRA functions and how to use their HRA to cover their medical expenses practically.  Here are the six questions I cover when I explain this group health arrangement: What is an HRA? How does an HRA work? What expenses can I use my HRA to cover? How do I access ..read more

According to dictionary.com, an accident is an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury. And when the unfortunate, unexpected, and unintentional happens, we’re left feeling uncertain and unprepared. What do we do next? Who do I need to call? What information do I need?  Questions swirl around in our heads. Accidents are not our norm. Not something we deal with every day. So it’s no wonder that we don’t always have clarity about what steps we need to take. As an insurance agent, I’m all too familiar with accidents and often ..read more

When we write an article for our learning center, we focus on answering your questions.  However, this time I’d like to change things up a bit. I have a question for you. Here it is. How would you get around if you were in a car accident and your car ended up in the shop? For most people, their car is indispensable. And especially living in a rural area like Ligonier or Waynesburg, taking public transportation or just hoofing it isn’t really an option.  After an accident, many people end up lining up rides to get where they need to go. But I’d like to tell you about another inexpensi ..read more

In March 2022, President Joe Biden gave a sobering warning to our nation. He warned that “‘evolving intelligence’ suggests Russia is exploring options for potential cyberattacks targeting U.S. critical infrastructure.” And in this cyber age, companies are already facing the constant threat of cyber attacks. That’s why it’s important to make sure your business has cyber insurance protection. At the same time, it’s important to know exactly what your cyber insurance policy will or will not cover. As with all insurance products, cyber insurance has exclusions. These exclusions declare instances t ..read more

Phishing is a type of cyberfraud that utilizes deceptive emails or other electronic communication to manipulate recipients into sharing sensitive information, clicking on malicious links or opening harmful attachments.  While emails are the most common delivery method of phishing attempts, cybercriminals may also use text messages, social media messages, fake or misleading websites, voicemails or even live phone calls.  This article describes six common types of phishing scams to watch out for and provides actionable suggestions for how to mitigate them. Types of Phishing Scams Many ..read more