Benefits\nexperts expect the following trends to be most popular in 2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"health](\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/health-provider-1024x605.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n- Account-based\nhealth plans. <\/strong>There are several legislative proposals in the works that would\nexpand opportunities for employees to contribute more money toward health\nsavings accounts (HSAs), giving them the option of purchasing individual\ncoverage rather than relying on employer-sponsored group coverage, as has been\nthe norm. However, complex rules and administrative challenges mean widespread\nadoption is probably still a couple of years away. In the meantime, large\nemployers should start thinking about educating their workers on HSAs in\nanticipation of their expected surge in popularity.<\/li>
- Direct\ncontracting with health care providers.<\/strong> With health care costs\ncontinually on the rise, more employers will make arrangements to contract\ndirectly with doctors and hospitals that provide evidence- and value-based care\nin an effort to improve access to higher quality care at more affordable\nprices. <\/li>
- Enhanced\nfamily programs.<\/strong> As society\u2019s attitudes and expectations evolve, employers are recognizing\nthe need for more generous family-friendly leave policies. This means more\nequitable paid parental leave arrangements, extending the benefit to new\nfathers as well as mothers, and adopting caregiver leave benefits to assist\nemployees who must contend with family-related absences. <\/li>
- Personal\nvoluntary benefits.<\/strong> Personalized perks are becoming increasingly important to job\nseekers, who believe custom-tailored benefits demonstrate value better than a\none-size-fits-all, by-the-numbers approach. Personalized benefits help\naccommodate an employee\u2019s interests and long-term goals and, as such, help in\nemployer retention efforts. They also acknowledge the fact that not all\nindividuals are in the same life and career stages, meaning everybody has\ndifferent needs at different times. <\/li>
- Mental\nhealth.<\/strong>\nMental health services are becoming a top priority as mental illness dominates\nheadlines and employers recognize the significant impact healthy employees have\non their bottom line. This means adopting and expanding behavioral health\nservice offerings such as telehealth counseling, substance abuse treatment, and\nexpansion of out-of-network coverage options, coupled with onsite education. <\/li>
- Benefits\ntechnology.<\/strong>\nTechnology is always a driving force in the health care industry, and online HR\nplatforms promise to streamline the benefits enrollment and management\nprocesses for both employers and employees \u2013 a more cost-effective solution\nthat will also save time. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new year brings new opportunities for everybody. It\u2019s the perfect time for employers to revisit their benefits plans and consider making changes \u2013 this has never been truer than in 2019, when record low unemployment rates and a red-hot job market makes attracting and retaining top talent a bigger challenge than usual. Benefits Experts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-resources"],"yoast_head":"\n
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AOA serves their membership through successful resources and services offered while striving to keep pace with future opportunities.","url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/author\/ascent\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} - Direct\ncontracting with health care providers.<\/strong> With health care costs\ncontinually on the rise, more employers will make arrangements to contract\ndirectly with doctors and hospitals that provide evidence- and value-based care\nin an effort to improve access to higher quality care at more affordable\nprices. <\/li>