Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Critical illness insurance is among the fastest growing voluntary benefits, but it’s also among the most difficult to grasp for employees. In developing its new CI insurance line, Trustmark did research to better understand the market.

Increasingly diverse workforces are creating a benefit communications challenge for employers and their advisers.

Is it legal for employers to drop health care coverage and pay for employees to go to the exchanges? One industry expert says yes — if you use this payroll option.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear the case of King v. Burwell, with the legality of federal subsidies for ACA exchange enrollment hanging in the balance. If the high court rules that subsides on the federal health care exchange are illegal, consumers would on average see premiums rise 255% — but industry analysts say it is unlikely to get to that point.

Some of the nation’s most foremost authorities on health economics and policy learned a painful – and ironic – lesson about their respective area of expertise recently when they were forced to pay more for their health care in 2015.

HHS has issued a final rule saying it will not qualify employer-sponsored health plans that fail to cover inpatient hospitalization as meeting the minimum value health plan standard under the ACA.

Although consumer-directed health plans are on the rise, few Americans report comparing the quality and price of plans, hospitals or doctors.

More than 1 million Americans enrolled in consumer operated and oriented plans known as CO-OPs over the past 18 months during which average premium rates in states with these nonprofit alternatives to commercial carrier options were found to be lower than those without such plans.

The excise tax remains a primary focus for employers as they plan their health care coverage strategy for 2016 and 2017, and many will be looking for assistance from their benefit adviser to address their concerns.

Employers must focus on the right objectives if they want a long-term ROI on their wellness plan. That includes engaging in four pillars of lifelong well-being.