Healthcare

With health care reform's medical loss ratio rebate reporting starting this month, there is still much uncertainty among employers about how the rebates will work, leading to an opportunity for brokers to fill that all-important trusted adviser role.

Anyone doubting the sustainability and projected growth of mobile technology should take heed of these statistics from technology and communication leaders Qualcomm Life and Virgin HealthMiles.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I met with a financial planner for the first time. Setting up the appointment was my idea - I suppose three and a half years of constant exposure to press releases entailing Americans' alarming lack of retirement preparedness will do that to a person.

Even as the Middle East has become a major business and tourist hub, U.S. companies that send executives to the area or hire local workers still express dissatisfaction with the insurance markets.

Since its inception in 1994, Citizens Financial Group's sabbatical program has generated more than 48,000 volunteer hours and saved nonprofit organizations more than $1 million. But the benefits of the program go beyond just doing good in the community. The program also acts as a powerful retention and engagement tool.

On March 19, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services jointly issued FAQs addressing the new summary of benefits and coverage requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Although the agencies released final regulations only a few weeks prior, the FAQs provide additional guidance and clarification.

Over the course of her 28-year career, Dr. Beverly Bell, medical director of the oncology program at inVentiv Medical Management, has watched children's cancer go from a disease with a 40% to 50% survival rate to one with an 80% to 90% survival rate. She calls acute lymphoblastic leukemia - a type of blood cell cancer and one of the most common types of childhood cancer - the success story of pediatric oncology.

Teach for America - a nonprofit organization that facilitates teaching opportunities in low-income communities for recent college grads - has grown from a small organization since its launch in 1990 with just a few staff members to one that now employs 1,700 people in 43 regions across the United States.

Life combination products grew 56% in 2011, according to LIMRA’s “2011 Individual Life Combination Products Annual Review.” This was the third consecutive year of double-digit growth.

More than half of Americans with individual market health insurance coverage in 2010 were enrolled in so-called "tin" plans, which provide less coverage than the lowest "bronze"-level plans in the Affordable Care Act, and therefore would not be able to be offered in the health insurance exchanges that are being created under the law, according to a Commonwealth Fund. The analysis suggests that once the state-based exchanges — set up to make it easier for individuals and small businesses to shop for health insurance — go into effect in 2014, many of these Americans will be able to purchase plans that offer better coverage. In addition, many will be eligible for premium subsidies that will help offset the cost of the plans.