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Midlands Business Journal’s event calendar allows the region’s business and nonprofit communities to share information about their upcoming events.

Events may be submitted by organizations based in or serving the Omaha metro area including the counties of: Douglas, Sarpy, Pottawattamie and Lancaster.

“So when January 1 rolls around it’s always good that you’re freshening your lens and perspective on your current benefits, on what you can do and cannot do,” Royal said. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Some of this is a black box. Employees should be willing to go to their HR [department].”

Mandolfo recommended checking in with employees regularly to understand what’s important to them.

“Annual employee surveys help achieve valuable feedback,” he said. “This could highlight a sought-after benefit not currently being offered, or equally highlight a current benefit that isn’t valued much.”

Legislatively, Shandell expects to see some changes on the pharmaceutical side having to do with pharmaceutical manufacturers patient assistance programs [PAPs].

“If there’s a drug that’s not covered on your health plan, depending on your financial picture, you could qualify for a manufacturers patient assistance program where the manufacturer would pay for the cost of the drug, but there are manufacturers who are trying to change that,” he said.