Healthcare

Four elements analyzed and scored for sponsors.

Three key factors affect determination of a worker’s status.

President Barack Obama’s use of federal loans to bankroll untested businesses is sparking controversy again, this time over a $6 billion program to create nonprofit competitors to commercial health insurers.

The Affordable Care Act’s initial success next year depends on President Barack Obama’s ability to coax at least 2.6 million people who are young and healthy to sign up for health insurance.

A new study confirms that a majority of large and mid-size U.S. employers are planning to change provider payment models to become more cost effective.

The Kaiser analysis, penned by Cynthia Cox, Gary Claxton and Larry Levitt, says that if MLR had not been in effect, premiums for individual health insurance would have been $1.9 billion higher in 2012.

Anne Filipic, who helped Barack Obama secure a turning-point victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, plans to send thousands of volunteers door-to-door this year on a new campaign: to help the president sell the Affordable Care Act to the nation’s 50 million uninsured.

Historically, voluntary benefits have been dismissed by busy agents as more trouble than they are worth, but with the Affordable Care Act moving closer to full implementation, agents looking to keep existing clients and gain new business should give them a closer look. Still not convinced? Following are five reasons for incorporating voluntary benefits into client proposals: …

Casinos have the largest percentage of employees on FMLA leave with 49% in a given year, FMLASource reports; they also rank the highest in intermittent leave (58%) and average duration of an intermittent leave (17 days).

Since its passage in 2008, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act has largely just affected HIPAA notice requirements and wellness plans. But this month the EEOC settled its first case under the law and should serve as a reminder to employers about what it really means.