Benefit plan design

When employers are searching for new coverage options, they will encounter some big name insurance companies, familiar hospital/provider systems and new insurance companies all offering coverage options. How does one sort out who’s who?

UnitedHealth Group Inc. is poised for HIX-related growth in 2015 on the heels of solid third-quarter revenue.

On Jan. 1, 2015, the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules went live for many employers. Despite final rules and regulation from the government, here is a partial list of unresolved items that would benefit from additional guidance.

CMS has released the 2015 list of counties where health plan carriers and some employers must provide information in a language other than English.

Voluntary benefit options gained popularity in 2014, providing solutions for employers and employees, as well as a business opportunity for benefit advisers.

Employers need to take a fresh look at their retirement plans annually because there is still a “significant problem” with retirement readiness.

Reducing health care costs is still the No. 1 reason U.S. employers implement wellness programs.

Three legal organizations allege in a new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge against Walmart that the retail giant did not go far enough to offer reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers with temporary disabilities. The National Women’s Law Center, A Better Balance and Mehri & Skalet, PLLC highlight in a Dec. 17 statement that the charge is on behalf of Candis Riggins, a former Walmart employee, whose job tasks caused her to become ill when she was…

A plan needs to be established for replacing business owners and/or C-suite executives to ensure a smooth transition and to keep the company sustainable and thriving.

Delaying health plan renewals appears to be the new normal under the Affordable Care Act, especially for small businesses.

When evaluating the merits of a private exchange, one industry insider suggests pursuing an overall financial strategy built around achieving “true savings” rather than simply shifting costs onto employees – a warning that has been sounded for years in the traditional marketplace.

Despite pressure from clients to provide an immediate solution for rising health care costs – brokers need to proceed slowly and cautiously when discussing solutions such as private exchanges, according to a speaker at Employee Benefit News’ Private Healthcare Exchanges conference.

As if employee benefit brokers and advisers in California haven’t had enough uphill battles trying to preserve their standing along the changing HIX landscape, some of them also now have to worry about being paid for helping enroll more than 500,000 residents in the state-run public exchange. But at least one industry insider believes it’s much ado about nothing. …

Open enrollment has been an annual headache for employers, even before the presence of the Affordable Care Act and the numerous plan changes towards more employee consumerism that followed.

Consumer operated and oriented plans known as CO-OPs have given some commercial carriers a run for their money in parts of the HIX marketplace where there was little or no competition, but these entities, created under the Affordable Care Act, also have run into some of the same systemic obstacles that have dogged for-profit plans for years.

Comparing prescription drug benefits offered on the Covered California state-run exchange is expected to be easier during the 2015 open enrollment.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has released highly anticipated draft regulations expected to impact the makeup of health plan provider networks on a state and federal level, including on the ACA exchanges.

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.

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.

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.