Healthcare

More than 975,000 Americans signed up this month for health insurance under Obamacare, pushing total enrollment above 1.1 million in 36 states covered by the U.S. healthcare.gov website.

From emergency rooms to pharmacies to company human-resources departments, changes will unfold within the U.S. health-care system on Jan. 1 as the nation guarantees insurance coverage to all Americans for the first time, a goal that has eluded presidents and lawmakers since the end of World War Two.

Finding a new job is a top priority for many workers with 83% of Americans saying they plan on switching careers in 2014. Considering the upswing, Allison & Taylor, an employment verification firm, offers 10 employment trends that potential job candidates should consider while searching – ideas that reflect many of the changes and the new normal in the HR world.

ERISA permits e-disclosures but employers need to be aware of the rules.

Right now is a good opportunity to look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the benefits world in 2013, and to see what we might be able to look forward to in the coming year.

From Maryland to Hawaii, Obamacare’s state-run enrollment operations are running into technical difficulties, creating new headaches for the White House even as the federal insurance website finds its footing.

The deadline to enroll in health plans that begin Jan. 1 was extended to midnight today from yesterday for most of the U.S., the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said. The extension was announced as healthcare.gov yesterday experienced a single-day record number of visits and consumers were moved into a queuing system deployed when the website approaches 50,000 simultaneous users.

As 2013 comes to a close, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular stories on our website this year. Here are the top five blog items of 2013.

(Bloomberg) – Today’s deadline for Americans to sign up for Obamacare health coverage effective Jan. 1 was extended until midnight tomorrow as heavy traffic to the online enrollment system caused a queuing system to be activated. Government technicians deploy the queuing system when traffic at the site, healthcare.gov, approaches 50,000 simultaneous users. Customers can request that an e-mail automatically be sent when traffic subsides. …

2013 is not over yet. Employers and HR and benefits professionals must address these 14 compliance issues before the New Year begins. Timothy F. Kennedy is a partner in Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice, concisely outlines retirement and health care issues that plan sponsors must consider in the following days.