Wellness

The Jan. 1, 2015 ACA compliance deadline for large employers is quickly approaching and your employer clients may have unanswered questions. Here are some of the most common employer concerns still looming and the answers you can provide them.

As if employee benefit brokers and advisers in California haven’t had enough uphill battles trying to preserve their standing along the changing HIX landscape, some of them also now have to worry about being paid for helping enroll more than 500,000 residents in the state-run public exchange. But at least one industry insider believes it’s much ado about nothing. …

Employers racing to keep up with changing regulations and stay ahead in the talent war are increasingly turning to their benefit advisers for help. In EBA’s ongoing series, executives at some of the top brokerages share challenges the industry is facing, as well as tips for firms of all sizes on how to tackle those challenges head-on.

Consumer operated and oriented plans known as CO-OPs have given some commercial carriers a run for their money in parts of the HIX marketplace where there was little or no competition, but these entities, created under the Affordable Care Act, also have run into some of the same systemic obstacles that have dogged for-profit plans for years.

Comparing prescription drug benefits offered on the Covered California state-run exchange is expected to be easier during the 2015 open enrollment than it was in 2014, thanks to the availability of more information.

There are several key areas where an employer can experience savings from a wellness program, says Retrofit's Jeff Hyman. The CEO shares several ideas on how to get started, including which data sets are most worth measuring.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has released highly anticipated draft regulations expected to impact the makeup of health plan provider networks on a state and federal level, including on the ACA exchanges.

The IRS has issued a notice, regulations and other guidance related to the ACA, including information on getting a hardship exemption from the individual mandate for health insurance coverage.

With mental illness and substance abuse costing employers an estimated $100 billion annually in indirect costs alone, benefit decision-makers are seeing value in promoting employee assistance programs as a means to improve their workforce’s mental well-being.

Towers Watson has spent nearly a billion dollars of its own capital to build out its private exchange offering, OneExchange, through acquisitions. Jim Foreman, Towers Watson’s director of exchange solutions, shares how voluntary continues to grow in a private HIX marketplace and why more and more employers are expressing interest in the offerings.