Benefit plan design

The Obama administration will delay a crucial provision of its signature health care law, giving businesses an extra year to comply with a requirement that they provide their workers with insurance.

With fewer employees getting vision care, major diseases are missed early on, leading to higher overall health costs

A new report suggests young and low-wage workers will face the greatest challenges in terms of health care eligibility and cost. Among employees under age 30, only half participated in their employer’s health benefits program in 2013, compared to 70% of employees age 40 and older, according to the 2013 ADP Annual Health Benefits Report.

Nearly half of employers are considering making changes to their total rewards program as a result of the Affordable Care Act, yet most do not anticipate making changes that could negatively affect employees.

In wellness programs, disincentives may have a place but experts caution to tread carefully when using this tactic.

Computer systems to help Americans gain coverage on the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges may not be ready on time, and training for the people who will assist consumers is behind schedule, a government report found.

As plan sponsors continue to work through Affordable Care Act compliance, there has been some confusion about what types of plans are being sponsored. Here’s a look at the basics of these plans.

Many employers are considering making changes to their total rewards programs as a result of the Affordable Care Act, yet most do not anticipate making changes that could negatively affect employees, such as discontinuing health coverage, asking full-time workers to switch to part-time work or increasing the use of contract workers, according to a survey released last Thursday.

Forty-nine percent of organizations feel that new grads lack basic skills and knowledge of writing in English, 18% worry about math proficiency and 13% believe graduates lack English speaking skills.

In a new Mercer survey of nearly 900 employers, 9% of respondents say ACA will have little or no cost impact on their bottom line (adding less than 1%), down significantly from the 25% who thought so in 2011.

Association health insurance has always been challenging, one expert says, and some groups may try to set up their own private exchanges, or possibly turn to self-insurance.

The Affordable Care Act’s initial success next year depends on President Barack Obama’s ability to coax at least 2.6 million people who are young and healthy to sign up for health insurance.

U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she talked with health care companies she regulates, including Johnson & Johnson, about helping a nonprofit group publicize the Affordable Care Act.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will offer coverage in just a dozen of the Affordable Care Act’s new insurance exchanges, in the latest sign big insurers see little gain from quickly plunging into the new markets.

Prudential Financial Inc. and MetLife Inc. are moving onto Aflac Inc.’s turf selling protection against diseases and accidents as the largest insurers seek to add business tied to the Affordable Care Act and win valuations like their smaller rival.

Small employers cite ACA’s effects on premiums and hiring as chief concerns with health care reform, according to a survey.

Employee benefits lawyers analyze the new health care reform rules, including the five requirements all wellness programs must have.

The Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services issued what are being called final rules on employment-based wellness programs, and advocacy groups immediately weighed in on the changes, which were required under the Affordable Care Act.

People from Maryland will have 13 insurance companies to choose from on their health insurance exchange, state officials announced this morning. The insurance options for California residents on the state’s exchange were also announced late last week amid reports that higher premiums may await those individuals.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said they have held off on hiring new employees as a result of the ACA. “One of the most concerning unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act is that we see employers looking to stay under the 50-employee threshold, if at all possible,” says one expert.