Benefit plan design

EBA Contributor Barry Cohn is being kept busy with questions about MLR reimbursements, with clients wondering what to do or asking how much they would be receiving.

Pediatric dental and orthodontic coverage could see significant changes under health care reform, particularly in terms of reimbursement. Evelyn Ireland, the executive director of the National Association of Dental Plans, talks about regulations that might or might not have people smiling.

Many states led by Republican governors have already said they won’t build their own insurance exchanges. That puts the onus on the Obama administration.

The Department of Health and Human Services has laid out 10 categories of benefits that must be included in health insurance plans offered through an exchange.

With health reform moving full steam ahead, most employers will continue to offer employee coverage, but will make alterations to how they provide it, said a speaker at the Workplace Benefits Transitions conference Tuesday.

Health care reform means that many patients can no longer be denied health insurance because of preexisting conditions. But there’s a big catch: Coverage for many Americans without insurance will come at a potentially unaffordable cost.

Less than one week after Obama won a second term in office, dozens of employers already were setting about the business of offsetting the impending business costs of implementing health care reform or other Obama policies they view as unfriendly to their industry.

Aetna and other insurers that initially fought President Obama’s health care overhaul are reversing course and supporting the effort by funding a group planning to spend $100 million to help the uninsured get coverage.

As PPACA is implemented, the number of IT, software and service jobs created could easily boom into the hundreds of thousands.

Provisions associated with PPACA increase the amount an employer can offer for tobacco cessation from 20% of the total cost of health coverage to 50%.

HHS outlines various conditions and services insurers must cover, and rules to let companies expand employee wellness programs in new proposed regulations of the ACA posted Tuesday.

States received an extra month from the Obama administration to decide whether to build online marketplaces for medical insurance after Republican governors pressed their resistant to the president’s health care law.

Several Republican leaders have either confirmed that they’ll be letting the federal government handle their states’ health care exchanges, or have yet to say, and the deadline is Friday.

The president’s re-election probably spells doom for any short-term efforts to overturn PPACA, and industry professionals who waited to implement health care reform changes can wait no longer.

Health insurance company stocks fall Wednesday after Obama’s re-election affirms PPACA will move forward. Health reform’s product standardization and transparency will “pressure margins,” insurers say, offsetting any potential for increased profits from a larger client base.

The president’s re-election probably spells doom for any short-term efforts to overturn PPACA, and industry professionals who waited to implement health care reform changes can wait no longer.

Updated throughout the day after Obama's re-election, hear what industry leaders and industry groups say the president's win means for the broker community. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments, too.

President Barack Obama’s re-election means his overhaul of the U.S. health-care system, opposed by most Republicans, will move ahead in all 50 states, with or without the cooperation of their governors.

A recent survey shows a lack of planning around health care reform on the part of many small businesses, and even confusion over the obligation to provide coverage.

New legislation begins this month in Massachusetts, a state ahead of the country on “health care reform,” says EBA Blogger Mark Gaunya. But what can others learn from this new law, a “a state-based, cost control experiment that may prove to be a glimpse of the future in your state?”