Client strategies

The ACA's first open enrollment period presented some expected — and some out-of-the-blue — challenges for carriers, agents and others tasked with enrolling millions of individuals on the health insurance exchanges. Those challenges should serve as lessons and preparation exercises for the next open enrollment, several industry experts advise.

A majority of Americans remain uninsured and many based the decision to stay uninsured on the cost of coverage, with many not even visiting an exchange to see a price estimate, a new study from consultancy Market Strategies International finds.

The six vexing questions employers want and need answers to in order to determine benefits.

Most Hispanics have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, but need more information about it to understand the law and how to enroll in the health insurance exchanges, HolaDoctor, a leading health website for Hispanics, says.

New research from a North American sample of HR leaders finds that the Affordable Care Act is not a primary concern among employers, even as the landmark health care law continues to worry the masses.

Whatever the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, it won’t likely have broad implications for all employers, according to Howard Shapiro, partner and head of Proskauer’s ERISA litigation group in New Orleans.

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.

Employers are making creative changes to employee benefit offerings to stem the tide of rising health care costs, but many are taking a wait-and-see approach to private exchanges, according to presenters at MetLife’s 10th National Benefits Symposium Monday.

Forty-five percent of employers have implemented or plan to consider using a private exchange for their full-time active employees before 2018, according to a new employer survey conducted by the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative

The number of insurance agency mergers and acquisitions fell in 2013, with 248 reported transactions in the United States and Canada, down from a record 299 transactions in 2012, according to OPTIS Partners’ new semi-annual survey.

Rising health care costs are driving employers to audit their covered dependents to eliminate working spouses.

Benefits and risk management consulting firm Laurus Strategies launches a private exchange consulting practice to help employers identify vendors and determine the feasibility of moving to a private exchange.

Commentary: The Catalyst for Payment Reform scored each state on its level of health care cost transparency — 29 received an F, only two scored an A. Transparency of health care cost and quality must be the founding principle of sustainable change, says Borislow Insurance’s Mark Gaunya.

At a Republican think tank-sponsored forum on Thursday, congressmen from the right touted a patient and doctor-focused fix to health reform, but remain split on whether to repeal or make piecemeal changes to the Affordable Care Act. They also voiced concerns about employees’ ability to make ends meet as a consequence of the law.

As Healthcare.gov procrastinators gear up for the nail-biting final weeks of 2014 enrollment, some lucky part-time or seasonal workers will be able to ride the coattails of their employer’s customized portal for assistance.

A potential loophole in the Affordable Care Act could spell trouble for the HIX marketplace if enough group health plans are able to steer sicker employee populations to public exchanges while holding onto healthier lives.

Republicans' alternative to the ACA, the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, would do away with exchanges and include a cap on employer-provided health insurance that working Americans could exclude from their taxable income.

More than 820,000 people have selected a Covered California health insurance plan through the Golden State’s public marketplace through the first two weeks of February, exceeding the state’s open enrollment goal through March 31 of 700,000 enrollees for 2014, officials said Wednesday.

Commentary: A recap of the compliance issues that lie ahead for brokers and plan sponsors in 2014, which EBA Advisory Board member George Lane of Mercer says are making things a lot more complicated.

The dissatisfaction, disappointment and frustration with launch of the federal health insurance exchange could be expected, especially with the constantly elevating level of consumer expectations for e-commerce and other online systems. Meanwhile, the number of private exchanges continues to grow and are in a very good position to succeed.