Employer Strategies

After Tuesday’s news that CMS wants to recruit more brokers to enroll consumers on Healthcare.gov, the group made the first public announcement Wednesday about a broker-focused website improvement.

Despite taking Healthcare.gov offline for hours a day to make technological fixes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday the site continued to experience multiple slowdowns and displayed error messages to numerous visitors throughout the day.

Funded ratio equals highest monthly level since 2008.

Leaving on a jet plane for health care abroad? Medical tourism is a booming industry, but employers need to be aware of the potential risks to ensure the safety of their employees and avoid fraud.

Employers and HR professionals will have to come to terms with the most common (but hopefully not absolutely systemic) reality for employees: rates will, in some cases, go up. That’s a simple fact of life, and you can blame the ACA all you want, but the truth is that health care rates were likely to inch marginally anyhow.

If your clients’ plans don’t exhibit these success signs, consider doing an audit before the end of the year.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace and hiring bias on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, finally passed the Senate today. Its future in the GOP-controlled House is less certain.

While the top exchange leader confirmed Tuesday that 70,000 agents have completed federal training, documents obtained by Republicans suggest CMS might begin outreach to get more professionals involved.

The Affordable Care Act did not envision the emergence of private exchanges, noted Larry Boress, president and CEO of the Midwest Business Group on Health. “There are no rules or regulations – yet,” he warned.

Up to $500 in a Flexible Spending Account can now roll over from year to year, but making the switch for 2013 could mean employees planning on using the grace period will lose money.