No Surprises Act Disputes Surge for Employer Plans
Employer plans are seeing a sharp rise in health care payment disputes under the No Surprises Act’s (NSA) independent dispute resolution (IDR) system. CMS data for the second quarter of 2025 show employer plans were involved in 524,052 disputes, a 119% increase from...
FDA Commissioner Calls for Expanding OTC Drug Access
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, made expanding over-the-counter (OTC) availability of more drugs a clear priority during an April 1, 2026 press conference. “When I look at the reasons those drugs were not approved in the past, I think we can do better,” he...
Vision Loss Is Rising — But Much of It Is Preventable
Vision loss is quietly becoming one of the most significant — yet preventable — health challenges. Today, an estimated 93 million American adults are at high risk for serious vision loss, and roughly 7 million Americans already live with vision impairment and...
Employees Generally Happy with Their Health Coverage
Nearly 9 in 10 employees (89%) are satisfied with their employer-sponsored health coverage, a recent AHIP study finds. Respondents said they value their benefits not just for access to care, but for financial stability and peace of mind. Health insurance stands apart...
Register Now for the MBU Employer Roundtable on April 16!
MedBen University (MBU) is celebrating its 25th season of practical benefits education. Our annual Employer Roundtable will take place Thursday, April 16, and is open to MedBen clients as well as their brokers. Topics scheduled for discussion include: What's driving...
The Clinical Difference: Evidence Over Rx Advertising
Heavy direct-to-consumer advertising of high-cost medications is fueling patient demand and placing added pressure on physicians to prescribe the drugs that patients recognize — even when lower-cost alternatives may be just as, or more, effective. The scale of this...
Multi-Factor Authentication Coming to MedBen Analytics
To provide an additional layer of security for users of the MedBen Analytics employer dashboard, MedBen will be implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for user logins beginning May 1, 2026. MFA is a widely used security measure that helps protect sensitive...
Coming Soon… the 2026 MedBen Client Report
The upcoming 2026 MedBen Client Report details the strategies MedBen clients are using to manage rising health care costs while strengthening the value of their plans. An expanded checklist illustrates the range of self-funding services currently available to...
Hupp, Kilgore, and Peters Promoted to MedBen Directors
MedBen is pleased to announce the promotions of: Brooke Hupp to Director of Sales; Beth Kilgore to Director of Benefit Services; and Bethany Peters to Director of MedBen Rx. “These promotions are well-deserved because Brooke, Beth, and Bethany have each made...
RxDC Reporting Made Easy for MedBen Clients
As you may recall, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) requires group health plans to submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services information about prescription drugs and health care spending. This data submission is called RxDC (for...
A New Warning on Women’s Heart Health
Heart disease risk among women is rising — and younger women are no longer considered low risk. A new scientific statement from the American Heart Association warns that women ages 20–44 and women of color face disproportionate risk, and by 2050, 6 in 10 U.S. women...
The High Cost of Avoidable ER Visits
For MedBen clients in 2025, 14% of emergency room visits were identified as potentially avoidable — often for conditions that could have been treated safely and effectively in a more appropriate setting. When care is delivered at an urgent care facility or physician’s...