Wellness

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul suffered a potentially crippling blow as a U.S. appeals court ruled the government can’t give financial assistance to anyone buying coverage on the insurance marketplace run by federal authorities.

The DOL says employers reacting to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling by canceling contraceptive coverage will be required to notify their employees of the change, an important administrative note for benefit advisers working with employers electing to do so.

Opinion: While some thought that expensive, broad-based health screening programs were a thing of the past, the AHA's policies may support practices that should have been abandoned long ago.

With health care costs continuing to rise, it’s no surprise to benefit advisers that their employer clients continue to seek benefit solutions that shift some of the cost burden to their employees — and new data reveals that trend shows no signs of stopping.

While employers are continuing to feel the impact from a multitude of changing laws and regulations, worries about the Affordable Care Act have begun to subside, to some degree. But the jury is out on the long-term implications of the ACA, and the ways benefits managers will live up to its stipulations in coming years.

Benefit advisers working with employers offering medical plans — take note. Two important final regulations issued jointly by the IRS, DOL and HHS apply to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2014. Are your clients compliant?

A boom in private exchanges and a changing distribution system for health care will create a new landscape for benefits managers and advisers, with more emphasis on consumer-directed health care.

A proposal up for vote in the most populous state would give the insurance commissioner veto power over health insurance rates, among other things, and has brokers fearful of the trend spreading to other states.

The Senate Wednesday failed to get enough support for its reversal plan of the recent Supreme Court Hobby Lobby ruling that will allow some employers to decline providing insurance coverage for some forms of birth control based on religious grounds.

Millions of Americans sought help from navigators and assisters during the ACA's first open-enrollment period, but many were more satisfied with help from a benefit adviser.