Patton Insurance Benefits

10/16/2026

🏒🎃 HOCKEYWEEN WITH PATTON INSURANCE BENEFITS! 🍬👻

We’re excited to announce that Patton Insurance Benefits will be hosting a table at the Iowa Wild’s Hockeyween Game on Sunday, November 1st! 🏒

🚪 Doors Open: 2:00 PM

🍬 Stop by our table on the concourse and say hello! We’ll be handing out candy to all, so bring the family, show off those Halloween costumes, and get ready for some hockey and Halloween fun!

We’re looking forward to seeing all the little ghosts, goblins, superheroes, and hockey fans! 👻🦸‍♀️🧛‍♂️

📍 Find us on the concourse at the Iowa Wild game!

Need tickets to the game? Use the Link below:

Hockeyween Tickets:
https://hyveetix.evenue.net/promotions/WILDSPOOKY

Happy Hockeyween from your friends at Patton Insurance Benefits! 🧡🏒

10/14/2026

Hosting our annual booth at the Iowa Employment Conference Fall Session! Powered by ATW Training Solutions

10/13/2026

CMS releases MA star ratings for 2027

The CMS released its 2027 Medicare Advantage star ratings on Friday. Humana excelled in the MA and Part D star ratings, with 95% of its members in plans rated at least four stars and 42 in 4.5 stars. The achievement led to a nearly 12% increase in the company's shares, surpassing J.P. Morgan's estimates. Aetna also performed well, with about 70% of members in high-rated plans.

CVS Health announced that Aetna had more than 69% of its Medicare Advantage members in plans rated 4 stars or higher for 2027.

“These results position Aetna as one of the highest-performing large, publicly traded Medicare Advantage organizations in the Star Ratings program for the third consecutive year and highlight strong performance across various clinical quality, preventive care and member experience measures,” Aetna said.

The number of UnitedHealthcare plans rated 4 stars or higher fell as the insurer will announce Q3 earnings Tuesday morning.

10/07/2026

Our table on the 17th Tee Box at the Iowa Wild Golf Outing! Should be a beautiful day on the course.

09/30/2026

We are all setup at the Iowa Realtors annual convention!

09/14/2026

More changes are coming to Medicare Advantage in 2027 — and this one is worth watching.

CMS has released its draft Star Rating cutpoints for 2027, and according to this recent Healthcare Dive article, roughly 50% of the thresholds are getting tougher to reach, while 33% remain unchanged and only 17% are getting easier.

Why does this matter?

Star Ratings can have a significant impact on Medicare Advantage plans — including the bonus payments they receive and their ability to offer competitive benefits. Even a half-star change can have a substantial financial impact on a plan.

What caught my attention is that many of the tougher thresholds are tied to HEDIS measures involving things like preventive care, screenings and health outcomes. In other words, plans are going to have to continue finding ways to improve how they engage with and care for their members.

And with 2027 Medicare plan information just around the corner, this is another reminder that Medicare Advantage is anything but “set it and forget it.”

For beneficiaries, it will be important to look beyond just the premium or extra benefits when comparing plans. Network, prescription coverage, provider access, plan changes, and overall plan quality all deserve a closer look.

As brokers, staying on top of these changes is a big part of helping our clients make informed decisions during the Annual Enrollment Period.

Interesting times ahead in the Medicare Advantage market.

Worth the read:
“Half of Medicare Advantage stars thresholds harder to reach in 2027”

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/medicare-advantage-stars-cutpoints-2027-cms/829963/

The CMS released draft star ratings, including the thresholds for reaching those ratings, to plans earlier this week. The grading sheet got stricter, which doesn’t bode well for insurers, one MA expert said.

09/11/2026

We Remember. We Honor. We Will Never Forget.

Today, we remember the nearly 3,000 innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001, and honor the courage and sacrifice of the first responders, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, and ordinary Americans who came together in the days that followed.

We remember the heroes of New York, Washington, D.C., and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

More than 25 years later, the memories remain, the stories continue to be told, and the lessons of courage, unity, and compassion endure.

We look to the future knowing we can never forget the past.

🇺🇸 God Bless America.

08/24/2026

Another tough year ahead for employer health costs
by Adriel Bettelheim

Employers who've been reeling from near double-digit health cost increases the past three years can expect more of the same in 2027, according to new projections from benefits consultant Aon.

Why it matters: Companies and their workers are locked in one of the most sustained periods of health care inflation in decades — and the trend lines are sure to intensify affordability concerns.

Driving the news: Rising demand for health services, more chronic disease and increased use of drugs like GLP-1s will help drive up employer health costs 9.5% next year — to more than $19,000 per employee, Aon said.

Workers this year are expected to pay an average of $5,297 for health coverage, counting payroll contributions and out-of-pocket spending. That's $388 more than in 2025.

There's also more cost pressure from the increased use of AI in billing and coding, which leads to more detailed documentation and contributes to higher charges in some cases.

The big picture: Employer health care cost increases have more than doubled since 2022, rising from 3.7% to 8.8% in 2026.

https://www.axios.com/2026/08/20/health-care-costs-employers-rising

Near double-digit health cost increases are set to continue in 2027.

08/17/2026

Family Dollar Is Closing, So Is the Nearest Pharmacy - Here's What "Retail Deserts" Are Doing to Small-Town Retirees

Rural areas are the hardest hit.

By Amanda Machado , Edited by Calista Headrick

There are few things more devastating to a small community than the closure of the local pharmacy. In Heber-Overgaard, Arizona, this happened in 2013, leaving residents with an hour-long drive just to fill a prescription. A local pharmacist eventually reopened a small telepharmacy outpost in town, staffed largely by residents who trained on the job rather than in pharmacy school. It now serves thousands of patients who would otherwise have nowhere nearby to turn.

The story of Heber-Overgaard isn't unique. It's a small taste of what's been happening, in slow motion, across huge swaths of rural America, where the everyday infrastructure retirees depend on is quietly disappearing store by store and pharmacy by pharmacy.

Two trends are converging on the same map, and almost nobody depends on both more than retirees living on just Social Security in small towns.

Family Dollar is closing hundreds of stores as pharmacy deserts spread across rural America. Here's how retirees are affected, and what actually helps.