Benefit plan design

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the subsidies that are a linchpin of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, accepting a case that suddenly puts the law under a new legal cloud.

As the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate becomes effective, applicable large employers that utilize third-parties are faced with figuring out of what it means to make an offer of minimum essential coverage.

In a surprise move, CMS has delayed its enforcement of the use of health plan identifiers in HIPAA transactions. What does this mean for your employer clients and HIPAA compliance?

The IRS said Tuesday it plans to close a major loophole in the ACA by banning employers who offer medical plans without hospitalization coverage from qualifying as minimum value plans under the health reform law.

A little-known special enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act allows for small employers to pick up group health care coverage regardless of whether they meet minimum participation or contribution requirements.

After multiple delays, early access to the federally-facilitated Small Business Health Options Program launched Monday in five states.

Although open enrollment for 2015 Obamacare plans opens in just over three weeks, the uninsured remain unclear about the dates and possible financial assistance available.

With mental health and substance abuse disorder services deemed an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act, employee assistance program providers are taking on a new role – helping employers and health plans sniff out fraudulent health care activity among substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities.

While pharmacy benefits utilization was roughly the same during the first half of 2014 for individuals enrolled in public health insurance exchanges and traditional insurance market plans, a new analysis shows the utilization of specialty drugs is much higher in the HIX marketplace.

For employers fighting to maintain grandfathered status, consultants and benefit managers predict the Affordable Care Act’s ongoing implementation will mean the end of these health plan structures in the near future.

Several tech companies this week announced they would be adding egg freezing benefits to their health plan. While that may sound like a nice perk to some, making this and other benefit plan changes comes with risks that your employer clients, with your help, should consider.

The new CEO of the federal health insurance marketplace, Kevin Counihan, knows there is room for improvement, but says new processes have Healthcare.gov ready for 2015 open enrollment.

A fix is in the works to ensure agents and brokers can identify themselves and therefore receive commissions for their work on the federally-facilitated marketplace, an agency official at The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight said Tuesday.

Earlier this week, Walmart announced it was dropping health care coverage for employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week, a move the company estimates will affect about 2% of its workforce. Here’s a wrap-up of our analysis, plus a look at the ways other large companies are handling rising health care costs.

Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, tells EBN that the company's decision to end health coverage for a small portion of its workforce will enable these employees to "decide for themselves what makes the most sense for them."

Walmart’s announcement this week that it will drop health care coverage for its part-time employees reiterates that employer-sponsored health care coverage is changing, and those benefit advisers who plan to remain relevant to clients must change, too.

Walmart Stores Inc. the world’s biggest retail chain, plans to stop offering health benefits to employees who work less than 30 hours a week, a move that will affect about 2% of its U.S. staff.

Can a cafeteria plan prevent an employee from heading to the exchange? New IRS direction clarifies mid-year changes for your client’s cafeteria plan participants.

With the ACA’s employer mandate on the horizon, many employers with part-time and variable hour employees are also re-evaluating their benefit offerings for part-time employees.

Health care reform has presented employers plenty of new challenges to grapple with when it comes to offering health care coverage, and, many say, has expanded the critical role of benefit advisers who heed the call.