Healthcare

A leading group of U.S. doctors is trying to tackle the costly problem of excessive medical testing, hoping to avoid more government intervention in how they practice.

There’s no sense in denying it: Since its launch in 2004, Facebook’s effect on the Internet, the way we share and receive information, and the way we interact with one another has been profound and irreversible. I remember getting smacked with this reality once, as I updated my Facebook status while sitting in a movie theater waiting for “The Social Network” to start, and again as I watched a cable news report that invited viewers to…

Government is perhaps the last employer segment that provides benefits that liken to those retiring baby boomers remember: A strong pension plan and paternalistic health care benefits.

Heath savings accounts are the hot ticket item in private sector benefits these days. On Monday, Bank of America announced a record 34% growth in health savings accounts in 2011, adding more than 50,000 accounts last year. The growth is attributed to increases in account use among employees of existing corporate clients, and new relationships with individuals and employers.

U.S. health insurers said on Friday they feared President Barack Obama had set a new precedent by making them responsible for providing free birth control to employees of religious groups as he sought to defuse an election-year landmine.

People in the market for health insurance will soon have clear, understandable and straightforward information on what health plans will cover, what limitations or conditions will apply, and what they will pay for services, thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act according to final regulations published last week.

Financial advisers have turned decidedly more optimistic about the market’s prospects for 2012, according to an SEI Quick Poll. Nine in 10 of the advisers surveyed in early February, including bank advisors, say they expect a positive return for the S&P 500 in 2012, up 18% from a similar survey conducted in mid-January. More than six in 10, 63%, predicted gains greater than 5%, a sentiment that spread dramatically from just three weeks ago.

Six federal agencies have issued a final rule requiring insurers to provide to consumers at the time of enrollment a plain-English summary of benefits and coverage, and a uniform glossary of terms.

The number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, the latest sign of recovery in the labor market.

President Barack Obama, in an abrupt policy shift aimed at quelling an election-year firestorm, announced on Friday that religious employers would not be required to offer free birth control to workers and that the onus would instead be put on insurers.