Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Benefit advisers are poised to close the gap between employers’ need to control health costs and comply with the health law and employees’ lack of interest in taking ownership of their health care choices.

Industry groups hope the broker licensing bill will be attached to another insurance law that should go through Congress soon, but lawmakers aren’t confirming anything right now.

Benefit insiders predict a steep decline in small business group health insurance sales in the coming years, which could prove harmful for many independent brokers and agents.

Benefit advisers can advise their clients on a recent court case that confirms ERISA penalties will ensue for plan administrators that fail to provide plan documents when requested by a plan participant or plan sponsor.

The IRS this month clarified for benefit advisers and their clients that employers cannot escape ACA penalties and taxes via pre-tax premium reimbursement plans.

More than 250,000 Americans selected private health insurance plans through Obamacare enrollment systems last month, better than twice as many as in October when the exchanges opened amid technology errors and outages.

Industry leaders discuss brokers’ to-dos for 2014, including technology developments and pending, unexpected competitors during a panel at Workplace Benefits Transitions.

President Barack Obama’s health agency said it has spent $319 million building an online health-insurance marketplace through October.

Emails obtained by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce reveal that the Obama administration knew this summer that the federal SHOP exchange would likely not be ready for launch on Oct. 1.

The health care website’s improved performance has both U.S. political parties shifting strategies, with President Barack Obama’s team preparing a January advertising blitz and a wave of celebrity promotions to boost enrollment, allies said.