Employer Strategies

Despite a CMS report Friday that nearly half of all applications completed so far are from the federally-run state exchanges, brokers on the front lines have a different perspective.

Daily unique visitors to Healthcare.gov have steadily and dramatically declined since the site’s launch, according to data from Internet analytics company comScore.

Just how will the fight in Congress over health exchange website glitches pan out? EBA spoke with former Capitol Hill staffer Drew Crouch, now director of government relations at Buck Consultants, about potential Republican strategies — and if tax reform that would impact employee benefits might still be on the table for this year.

According to a national survey conducted by Pew Research, nearly 50% of those polled said they did not believe that the online insurance exchanges were working well. But when asked for details on actually using an online exchange, 56% of those who’d visited one said they’d personally found the site easy to use.

“All that we are doing with health care impacts so much more than health care costs, health risk status and use of health care services – it impacts the business,” explained Bruce Sherman, MD, medical director of Employers Health Coalition.

After three years of trying to dismantle Obamacare, House Republicans now are seeking to use the website’s flawed debut to hasten its collapse.

In this list of key Obamacare provisions effective for the plan year beginning this January, which ones apply to you, and are you ready?

The state-run exchanges in Washington and Kentucky have received positive press about their websites working in comparison to the federal, but brokers haven’t had much hand in the success.

Acknowledging Thursday that the exchange system “wasn’t tested enough,” CMS’ director of communications responded to issues brought up by government contractors earlier in the day on Capitol Hill.

Health care fraud will come at employers at an alarming rate, in part because the Affordable Care Act opens insurance up to millions of people who have little or no experience buying health insurance, says fraud expert Chuck Whitlock.