Benefit plan design

Employees are craving voluntary benefits to offset high deductible plans, yet many say they haven’t been offered any new options since the ACA became law.

With open enrollment officially over, suggestions are emerging from industry experts on how to tweak the next round of ACA sign-ups.

The Affordable Care Act’s ongoing rollout continues to plague employers as many look for alternative benefit structures to help with rising costs. The defined contribution benefit model – touted as a way to lower costs for employers and increase choice for employees – is generating lots of discussion but are employers ready to take the plunge?

Tuesday was the last day of a two-week health law extension for hundreds of thousands of people who couldn’t finish their enrollment by March 31, the official deadline to sign up for a federally subsidized insurance plan in 2014.

As employers begin to look at private exchanges as a means to provide health care benefits to their active employee population questions are being raised about potential conflicts of interest for consulting firms that also act as exchange purveyors.

Advisers say employers are increasingly purchasing voluntary dental plans as an effort to cut costs, meet new ACA requirements and retain employees.

The number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014 increased by 9.3 million – shaving the uninsured rolls to 15.8% from 20.5%, according to a new RAND survey. At least one skeptic, however, says the numbers are skewed and defy conventional wisdom.

Legal analysis: Are employees hired through a staffing firm or professional employer organization considered full-time employees under the ACA? Answering this question wrong could cost your clients a great deal.

Engaging and empowering employees to make better health and health care decisions, evaluating health exchanges and dealing with the lack of health care price transparency are three of the biggest challenges for Texas employers, finds a recent survey by the Texas Business Group on Health.

While all eyes had been on HIX enrollment numbers during the ACA’s first open-enrollment period, millions of Americans also chose health insurance options off the exchange. What does this mean for adverse selection and future premium pricing?

In a first look at pharmacy trends in public health insurance exchange plans, use of specialty medications was greater among exchange enrollees versus patients enrolled in a commercial health plan, according to new research released by Express Scripts.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation that would modify the Affordable Care Act’s definition of a full-time employee from one who works 30-hours a week to one who works 40-hours a week.

While it’s not surprising that in 2013 the trend of employers shifting rising health care costs to employees continued to grow, it also appears employers have begun to design health care plans with looming Affordable Care Act provisions in mind.

Employers have always been concerned about the potential for worker reclassification, but health care reform and a recent National Labor Relations Board decision take this issue to an entirely new level.

The latest ACA enrollment extension could mean big losses for insurers and higher premiums for everyone in 2015, Moody’s predicts.

The first phase of Obamacare ended yesterday much the same way it began: The federal website drew millions of visitors and crashed at least twice.

With Monday’s looming Affordable Care Act open enrollment deadline, a new analysis of Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia finds that health care costs are still a top concern.

The agency tasked with ACA execution would not say Wednesday whether they had a process to verify when consumers began their insurance applications on the exchanges. This comes a day after the group said there may be more time for certain individuals to finish enrolling after a March 31 deadline.

Voluntary benefit sales are enjoying rapid growth as employers prepare for the impact of the Affordable Care Act by revamping their medical plan designs to include more products such as accident and critical illness benefits.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday debated whether companies can assert religious rights, hearing arguments in an ideological clash over the Affordable Care Act and rules that promote contraceptive coverage.