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The IRS has issued a notice, regulations and other guidance related to the ACA, including information on getting a hardship exemption from the individual mandate for health insurance coverage.

Commentary: Reference-based pricing is slowly catching on with self-insured companies, says AmWINS Group Benefits’ Sam Fleet.

With mental illness and substance abuse costing employers an estimated $100 billion annually in indirect costs alone, benefit decision-makers are seeing value in promoting employee assistance programs as a means to improve their workforce’s mental well-being.

Towers Watson has spent nearly a billion dollars of its own capital to build out its private exchange offering, OneExchange, through acquisitions. Jim Foreman, Towers Watson’s director of exchange solutions, shares how voluntary continues to grow in a private HIX marketplace and why more and more employers are expressing interest in the offerings.

HHS proposes making some significant changes to the ACA in 2016, including controversial new requirements for brokers and agents that some say put them at an unfair disadvantage.

Commentary: What makes employers slow to adopt a defined contribution strategy? There are many reasons, says bswift’s Brianna Petro.

With its sights set on maintaining lifetime retirement income for the American workforce, a new final rule from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation hopes to limit any obstacles participants face when rolling over their 401(k) money into traditional pension plans.

Commentary: Smartphone apps improve adherence and plan member health, and brokers can serve as catalyst for change in this new environment.

While 401(k) plans may not be the perfect retirement plan vehicle, they do have a number of important attributes that most probably take for granted.

A randomized controlled trial found that users of the SmartQuit program, created by Seattle-based 2Morrow, Inc., were 2.5 to three times more likely to quit smoking than those who tried to quit on their own. The program will be offered through employers, health plans and states.

Perhaps the hottest trend in benefits right now is the exchange distribution model. In EBA’s ongoing series of discussions with heads of the country’s top brokerages, these leaders share their approach to the exchange system and how they see private exchanges impacting the future of benefits.

This Thanksgiving, before you enjoy a few days off with family, friends, and a mountain of turkey, make sure you show one group of people just how thankful you are for them: your employees.

What health, retirement, technology, voluntary, and wellness issues will benefit professionals be wrestling with next year? The editors of Employee Benefit Adviser and Employee Benefit News have put together a web seminar series with top benefit experts to offer insights on the biggest 2015 trends.

No short-term effects are expected from House GOP’s ACA subsidy lawsuit, but industry experts expect long-term implications on presidential authority and upcoming elections.

HHS is proposing to make some significant changes to the rules governing the Affordable Care Act, including a shortened time period for open enrollment and training requirements for brokers and agents.

Prenatal and postpartum care programs are not only a benefit for employees who are expecting, they can also help employers avoid unnecessary costs related to preterm births.

Wizened consumers who are able to analyze their entire out-of-pocket exposure. That’s the goal of ConnectedHealth’s private exchange, says Joe Donlan, the company’s president. However, he predicts that increased consumer engagement is just part of the wave toward more employers adopting private exchanges. Donlan shares his view on where the industry is headed and how brokers fit into the exchange system.

Commentary: From the client perspective, brokers look the same, which makes you a commodity purchasing decision in their eyes. Q4intelligence’s Wendy Keneipp explains how to break away from this view and make yourself relevant and attractive to buyers.

Smartphone-enabled transportation vendor Uber, in partnership with Vaccine Finder, has expanded its pilots of home-delivered flu prevention packets and free flu vaccinations, to Chicago after an "overwhelming" response to similar pilots in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Americans’ approval of the Affordable Care Act is at a record low yet those uninsured who purchased coverage through the exchange are overall pleased with the quality of coverage they obtained.