Brian M. Kalish

A new analysis estimates even more employers will move active employees to private exchanges in part because brokers are taking on a bigger role in pushing them as a solution to rising health care costs.

As private exchange providers introduce voluntary benefit offerings, how will broker commissions be affected?

Employers continue to express interest in private exchanges, but most are hesitant to be the first to make the jump. What they will do once others switch, however, may surprise you.

The Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that Kevin Counihan, the head of Connecticut’s state-run exchange will join the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as CEO of the Marketplace, also known as the federal government’s health care exchange.

Although open enrollment for ACA plans is not set to begin until November 15, a new report estimates that nearly 7 million adults may be able to enroll through special enrollment periods.

Brokers and assisters will need to work closer together to help consumers during the 2015 ACA open enrollment, but most agree that will involve overcoming some underlying issues.

While the logistics of health care growing increasingly complex, benefit advisers could and should play a crucial role in helping employers and employees understand the new health care delivery system.

Private exchanges are a complex tool in a complex market, but they continue to evolve as employers switch to them, and brokers learn to work with them. Panelists discussed where they will go next during at opening keynote Tuesday at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Mania.

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 new HHS report finds most inconsistencies on the federally run state exchanges went unresolved due to inoperative systems.

Nearly all inconsistencies for those who enrolled for health care through the Affordable Care Act’s federal exchanges were unable to be resolved due to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services systems not being fully operational.

Still in their infancy, private exchanges present a tremendous opportunity to rein in health care spending and help HR deal with more pressing issues. But what makes a good one, and how are they growing?]

Despite a surge in sign-ups through public exchanges, the newly insured have many of the same fears about explosive health care costs as those who have dealt with the issues of coverage in previous years.

Looking toward 2015 open enrollment, experts say Healthcare.gov will be a vastly better place but work continues on some back end functionality.

Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear discuss what key factors led to Obamacare’s 8 million enrollees

Estimated enrollment is three times the number consultancy predicted last year.

Despite all the technical glitches with Healthcare.gov and state-run exchanges during open enrollment, a large majority of Americans researching health plan options relied on websites for information, but supplemented their research with other outlets for answers, including brokers and advisers.

Everyone understands that advertising helps sell products and that was the top way to sell health plans through the public exchanges. But looking back on the first open enrollment, which advertising techniques worked and what lessons were learned to raise the number of enrollees further for 2015?

The breakdown of states running their own health insurance exchanges versus those using the federally facilitated marketplace will change in due time – but exactly how it will change is still up in the air, said a speaker at Wednesday’s National Health Insurance Exchange Summit, held in Washington, D.C.

Members of Congress came out swinging Wednesday at a committee hearing with top insurers called as witnesses to determine whom of the more than 8 million Obamacare enrollees have paid their first month’s premium.