Regulation

Accountable care organizations promise better alignment of health care provider incentives and patient outcomes. Can ACOs revolutionize employer-sponsored health care?

Commentary: Benefit advisers and their employer clients continue to have questions about private exchanges. Blogger Dan Garlitz shares some recent FAQs fielded by exchange administrator bswift.

Withdrawal liability is a seldom understood threat that could cost some of your employer clients tens of millions of dollars. Benefit advisers hoping to soften the blow can direct employers to do three things.

The White House this week breathed a sigh of relief – and conservatives simply sighed – when hours after a D.C. federal appeals court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service exceeded its authority in providing tax credit subsidies in 34 states, another federal appellate court ruled the opposite.

Hiring managers take note: State laws banning criminal background checks until after a candidate has been offered an interview are gaining momentum.

The immediate take-away for employers in the Halbig v. Burwell ruling is uncertainty about what the future brings for the Affordable Care Act. If the Halbig majority prevails, Obamacare has been dealt a serious, if not lethal, blow.

The bill that would establish a federal clearinghouse for state-by-state broker and agent licensing has successfully passed the U.S. Senate as an amendment to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, known as TRIA. It was previously left off another insurance industry bill at this point in the process.

Commentary: In today’s ubiquitous social media environment, employers face tremendous risks when utilizing social media as part of the hiring process. Even the most stringent recruitment process can become infiltrated with discriminatory practices, whether it’s intentional or not. Human resources professionals continue to struggle with this.

Released this week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new enforcement guidance on how employers are to accommodate their pregnant workforce is creating mixed emotions from legal experts in the employment space.

An increase in the offering of consumer-driven health care products has not translated into increased understanding on the part of consumers — exposing a need for more assistance from benefit professionals and educational tools.