Benefit plan design

Private exchanges increasingly will feature single-carrier rather than multicarrier networks as well as more expansive product lines.

Looking toward 2015 open enrollment, experts say Healthcare.gov will be a vastly better place but work continues on some back end functionality.

Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear discuss what key factors led to Obamacare’s 8 million enrollees

Insurance carriers are proposing a series of solutions to make the ACA exchanges more consumer-friendly, but not all brokers and agents agree with the ideas.

Estimated enrollment is three times the number consultancy predicted last year.

CMS has granted 18 states a delay in enacting employee choice on the SHOP exchange, which some advisers feel is the only incentive for employers to enroll on the exchange at all.

The emergence of public and private health insurance exchanges, as well as the ongoing shift toward placing more responsibility on workers for health plan decisions, is creating a new normal for employers and employees alike.

Commentary: One of America’s most enduring mysteries is why the organizations that pay for most health care don’t work together to force better value from the health care industry.

Millions of ACA application inconsistencies come as no surprise to benefit advisers and could trigger an influx of business to brokers from confused 2015 ACA enrollees.

CMS says benefit brokers and advisers are expected to be able to enroll their small business clients on the federal SHOP exchange online by sometime later this year.

Small businesses are poised to benefit from the Small Business Health Options Program but more education for small-business owners is needed, says an industry group supportive of the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced training and registration dates, along with requirements, for benefit advisers and brokers who want to enroll small business employers on the federally facilitated SHOP exchange.

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.

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.

Evidence shows that more insurers bring down premiums on the ACA exchanges, which could ease conversations benefit brokers have with the uninsured about affordability of coverage.

The Internal Revenue Service has threatened employers with Affordable Care Act penalties of $36,500 per employee, per year, nondeductible. Makes those $2,000 and $3,000 penalties look like small potatoes, right?

In follow-up to two broker-friendly bills introduced in late March, a group of five U.S. Democratic senators are asking the agency again for changes that will help ACA-certified agents better enroll consumers.

Individuals could pay more than twice as much for prescription drugs with certain exchange plans, as employers that provide health coverage gain another asset to leverage.

Everyone understands that advertising helps sell products and that was the top way to sell health plans through the public exchanges. But looking back on the first open enrollment, which advertising techniques worked and what lessons were learned to raise the number of enrollees further for 2015?

Supplemental benefit SurgeryPlus is a new product offering for advisers, especially those who work with self-funded clients.