Obama: Canceled plans can be kept one year
With the decision, state governors and insurance commissioners would have the authority to keep would-be canceled plans active until the end of 2014.
Benefit plan design
For one year, White House revives health plans canceled under ACA
The decision, which helps live up to a promise Obama made when pushing for passage of health reform, is couched as an administrative fix that says following ACA will not require insurance companies to upgrade their plan for individuals who have been in these existing plans so far.
Enrollment numbers would surely be higher if brokers involved
Brokers operating in the federally run exchange states remain frustrated with broker functions on the website, as the government announces lop-sided enrollment numbers for the state versus federal exchanges.
In first month, fewer than 30K sign up through Healthcare.gov
The lopsided enrollment between Medicaid, which is paid for with taxpayer money, and the private plans may boost criticism of the rising costs of the $1.4 trillion health law. High participation in the exchanges is critical to keeping the costs of medical coverage down.
By
Alex Wayne
Low enrollment threatens ACA exchanges
As few as 20 or 30 enrollments per state per day are greeting the Obamacare marketplaces. With more congressional hearings on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act set to start tomorrow in the House, will lawmakers get some answers?
By
Alex Wayne
Benefits Think Large employers must avoid health benefit design myopia
Walgreen Co. become the latest large employer to make significant changes to its employee health plan when it announced that it will move approximately 160,000 of its employees onto a private health insurance exchange, starting in 2014. The strategy is starting to look like a trend: Over the last several months, IBM, Time Warner, Sears Holdings and Darden Restaurants have all made similar announcements.
Republicans dismiss Obamas ACA apology, tout bill to keep health plans
President Barack Obama said hes sorry that thousands of Americans are losing their medical insurance as a result of his health care law, as his administration works to contain the political damage from the troubled roll-out of his signature domestic achievement.
By
Lisa Lerer
HHS unveiling rules for mental health coverage
The new rules, which come five years after the Mental Health Parity act was passed, mean insurers wont be able to charge higher co-payments or deductibles for mental illness or limit the duration of care.
By
Alex Wayne
ACA mandates delayed, but reporting requirements are crucial
These two new reporting requirements are in addition to the current requirement to report the cost of coverage on Form W-2.
Shifting FSAs: The impact on HSAs, and fighting an ACA change
Congress has introduced bills to reverse an Obamacare change on how Flexible Savings Accounts can be spent. Meanwhile, will the new rollover change impact HSA account holders as well?
UBA launches two private exchanges
United Benefit Advisors is the latest group to launch private exchanges, though these are limited to brokers who are UBA members, there is one for small and one for large employers alike.
Brokers ACA concerns slowly gaining traction in Washington
After Tuesdays news that CMS wants to recruit more brokers to enroll consumers on Healthcare.gov, the group made the first public announcement Wednesday about a broker-focused website improvement.
Despite tech fixes, Healthcare.gov problems continue
Despite taking Healthcare.gov offline for hours a day to make technological fixes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday the site continued to experience multiple slowdowns and displayed error messages to numerous visitors throughout the day.
Benefits Think The real bite (or bonus) of ACA begins to take shape
Employers and HR professionals will have to come to terms with the most common (but hopefully not absolutely systemic) reality for employees: rates will, in some cases, go up. Thats a simple fact of life, and you can blame the ACA all you want, but the truth is that health care rates were likely to inch marginally anyhow.
CMS wants more brokers on exchanges
While the top exchange leader confirmed Tuesday that 70,000 agents have completed federal training, documents obtained by Republicans suggest CMS might begin outreach to get more professionals involved.
Expedited ACA website bidding limited choice of contractors
The race to construct an online insurance exchange by Oct. 1 spurred the Obama administration to use an expedited bidding system that limited its choice of a builder to just four companies, including CGI Group.
Brokers, consumers at a standstill in Arkansas
President Obama touted this state as exemplary Wednesday in his health care speech, but one broker says there was a loophole for those who were able to enroll.
Cost of benefits, ACA compliance main concerns of midsized businesses
Seventy percent of midsized businesses those with between 50 and 999 employees surveyed said their biggest challenge in 2013 is the cost of health coverage and benefits. ACA legislation came in as the No. 2 concern.
Federal ACA exchanges saw just 248 enrollments in two days
Two days after the troubled online U.S. health exchange went live, just 248 people nationwide had successfully enrolled in insurance plans under President Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, documents show.
By
Alex Wayne
Whats all the buzz about grandfathering?
A debrief on the types of changes that trigger the loss of grandfathered status, the concept at the center of the if you like your plan, you can keep it issue.
