Practice management

At this week's Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, much buzz surrounded the changing industry landscape under the ACA, with most people agreeing benefit advisers looking to stake their claim on this new terrain need to focus less on brokering to confused employers and more on advising them.

While this might not be the easy tactic, it’s an important transformation in the long run, Employee Family Protection's Vinnie Daboul told attendees at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, N.J.

The employee benefit adviser’s role is a critical one that must be protected in dealing with the “sheer confusion” of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Kelly Ayotte told NAHU members at the organization’s annual Capitol Conference, where she also proposed several GOP-led repairs to the law.

As federal funding for state-run SHOP exchanges runs out in 2015, voluntary benefits may be the key to exchange sustainability, according to Ryan Howells, vice president and general manager of Connecture.

As Healthcare.gov procrastinators gear up for the nail-biting final weeks of 2014 enrollment, some lucky part-time or seasonal workers will be able to ride the coattails of their employer’s customized portal for assistance.

Lawmakers in Maryland and Wisconsin are working to make retirement plans more readily available to private sector employees. Their efforts follow recently enacted California legislation that requires employers to contribute 3% of a worker’s salary to a retirement account.

A potential loophole in the Affordable Care Act could spell trouble for the HIX marketplace if enough group health plans are able to steer sicker employee populations to public exchanges while holding onto healthier lives.

LIMRA survey finds 70% of advisers predict the ACA will slash group medical sales, with many saying health care reform will drive employers out of the market altogether.

Republicans' alternative to the ACA, the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, would do away with exchanges and include a cap on employer-provided health insurance that working Americans could exclude from their taxable income.

Innovative decision-making tools are being developed by insurance carriers to help employers and employees make decisions about their benefit options.