Brian M. Kalish

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday morning announced it will implement a special enrollment period for individuals who learn, at the time they file their taxes, of the Affordable Care Act-mandated tax penalty for not having health insurance coverage.

Both the Obama administration and states that run their own health insurance marketplaces are considering an extra enrollment period for tax filers who learn they owe a fine for not carrying insurance.

Five years down the road, the insurance broker’s role in health insurance may be diminished, largely due to exchanges, consultants say. The role of the broker will change greatly in the process, they say, but in the near term it is a mixed story.

As many brokerages offer a private exchange to their clients, carriers who run their own are working extra hard to educate customers about their offerings, says Lisa Feddema, director, exchange management, Health Care Service Corp.

Upwards of 200,000 people who signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and may not be legal residents of the U.S. are set to lose their insurance coverage, the government said Wednesday.

In a special election, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has chosen a “leader with broad experience” to head the organization as its president-elect.

Many of the private health care exchanges on the market today are adopting hybrid models of benefits administration and benefits enrollment, says Scott Carver, president of PlanSource, a cloud-based benefits exchange provider. The company operates its own proprietary exchange and a white label solution that builds exchanges for third parties. EBA spoke with Carver about what makes exchanges unique and his predictions for exponential growth in the field.

Although the industry anxiously awaits the Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of providing subsidies to people buying health insurance through the federal marketplace, few Americans have heard of the case that is set to go before the high court in March.

In an EBA exclusive, the leader of Hawaii’s public health care exchange pinpoints failures and shares why it’s a business imperative that no one be left out of the system.

The Affordable Care Act’s coverage provisions are now estimated to cost the government 20% less than originally estimated for the five-year period ending 2019, according to updated analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is adding security tools to Healthcare.gov after reports last week raised concerns about personal information shared on the government’s website to buy health insurance.

When it comes to private exchange operators, Array Health differs from most, in that the technology company powers many insurers’ private exchanges, including Highmark Blue Shield in Pittsburgh and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. The company’s CEO shares how private exchanges are changing the way health care is sold in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning that cybercriminals are using phishing e-mails that appear to come from Healthcare.gov ahead of the upcoming final deadline to apply for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that Andrew Slavitt, the second-ranking official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will take over the role of administrator of CMS in an acting capacity following the resignation of Marilyn Tavenner.

Advisers share why they entered the private exchange business and key players detail how to help employer clients chose the right exchange.

Benefitfocus' Shandon Fowler shares about his company, which provides the technology behind the private exchange offerings of top players like Aetna and Mercer.

Although consumer support tools were better during open enrollment year two as compared with the first go on Healthcare.gov and the state-based marketplaces, there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made.

CMS has released the 2015 list of counties where health plan carriers and some employers must provide information in a language other than English.

Employers need to take a fresh look at their retirement plans annually because there is still a “significant problem” with retirement readiness.

It’s been a year of massive growth for private exchanges, with estimates of more than three million people receiving employer health benefits through them by mid-2014, according to business management consultancy Accenture. Yet, 2015 is expected to see even more growth and acquisitions.