Medical Insurance Update

MileOne is committed to maintaining a superior level of insurance coverage.

As you may be aware, medical costs have skyrocketed this year throughout the country. We have also experienced an increase medical expenses during 2016. For the first half of the year paid claim dollars by United Healthcare (“UHC”) on behalf of MileOne employees and their eligible dependents are up more than 20% as compared to the same six month period of 2015.

As healthcare costs continue to increase, early projections are that premiums may significantly increase for 2017. In some areas of the country, medical insurance premiums may be more 30% higher next year. While the MileOne employee premiums should continue to be below the industry norms, I thought it was important to tell you that your medical insurance premiums for 2017 may be well above what you are paying this year.

MileOne will continue to pay the vast majority of the cost for the medical insurance program and is committed maintaining a superior level of insurance coverage to meet the healthcare needs of you and your family.

What can we all do to help?
We should all do everything we can to stay healthy. The MileOne medical insurance program offers “free” preventive care (claim payments are not subject to any deductible or coinsurance) with 100% of the claim costs paid by UHC. Preventive care includes annual physicals, smoking cessation, breast cancer screening and etc. I encourage you to take advantage of these proven life-saving services.

When the need for medical services arise, we should all strive to use in-network providers from the vast UHC network of healthcare professionals and service providers. Using out-of-network doctors, surgery centers and service providers can substantially increase the employee cost and the claim amount paid to UHC.

We should all try to spend our healthcare dollars wisely!
The 2017 MileOne medical insurance program may also introduce a few plan design changes/enhancements, which are still being evaluated. In addition, after the 2017 open enrollment later this year, we may implement an industry standard dependent auditing program in an effort to further control the costs for all our employees.

If you have any questions about the MileOne medical insurance program, please contact your HR Generalist for assistance.