Benefit plan design

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.

President Barack Obama’s health secretary has called companies and other organizations, seeking financial contributions to help promote the 2010 health care law that takes full effect next year.

Determining if your coverage is affordable is only one of several steps employers need to take before the end of the year, and that’s not even considering the preparations they should have made already.

People with health insurance saw increases in their medical costs slow from 2009 to 2011, signaling potential structural changes in the industry that could cut health care inflation and save the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two studies.

Countless pieces of legislation are introduced in Washington each year and nothing is done with them. As NAHU pushes for a hearing on the MLR bill in the Senate, what are its chances?

In the new world of "Obamacare," a.k.a. the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the birth of the insurance exchange is propelling us all the way back to the future.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a statement this morning that the application for public health insurance, reported in March to be 21 pages long for individuals, has been shorted to just three pages.

Guest blogger Mark S. Gaunya talks about what advisers must do in the 'Obamacare' world where insurers are assuming more risk and consumers more cost.

Mercer’s private exchange now has more than 20 carriers signed on to provide benefits, including dental, vision, life and disability products. Find out what carriers were added.

As most employers worry about whether to “pay or play” as of 2014 and whether or not certain employees will need to be counted as full-time for health care reform purposes, there is an elephant in the room: the approaching nondiscrimination rules that apply to all health plans that are not grandfathered.

What happens if, during the course of the appeals process, the plan administrator comes across information that might impact the decision on appeal that makes the administrator want to grant the appeal?