Crediting uncertainty surrounding ACA’s implementation, Moody’s Investor Services slashed the outlook for U.S. health insurers to negative.

As a result of the continued uncertainty of Affordable Care Act’s impact, Moody’s changed the outlook for U.S. health insurers to negative from stable.

The latest guidance from DOL addresses questions on coverage of preventive services and limitation on cost-sharing requirements under the ACA. The FAQs also provide guidance on expatriate plans, wellness programs, fixed indemnity insurance and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

BeneTrac, a San Diego-based employee benefits administration software provider, says employers need to act now in order to comply with the ACA’s employer-shared responsibility clause.

To hear it from Vice President Joe Biden, the fight over the Affordable Care Act may be far from over – but he’s certainly interested in recognizing the troops who helped build support for the landmark legislation.

Humana Inc. was sued by a Missouri man who claimed the insurer raised premiums for him and other customers and then failed to respond to requests to cancel policies, allegedly to increase revenue under the Affordable Care Act in what may be the first such lawsuit.

Medical expenses remain out of control in the U.S., where Americans have an “unsustainable attitude” that ignores the increasing cost of health care, the chief executive officer of insurer Aetna Inc. said.

CMS accelerated $90 million deal, rather than go through normal one-year bidding process, as it did not believe current contractor could complete work on ‘urgently needed’ functionalities.

Health care exchanges and other issues related to the Affordable Care Act have garnered a great deal of attention. However, additional and less well-known ACA regulations went into effect on January 1. One of these impacts wellness programs, including the myriad initiatives employers have put in place to encourage employees to exercise, lose weight and otherwise improve their health to prevent illness, disability and its costs.

Target Corp. said it will end health insurance for part-time employees, joining Trader Joe’s Co., Home Depot Inc. and other retailers that have scaled back benefits in response to changes from Obamacare.

The hotly contested issue of workplace flexibility and its inherent benefits have swayed a new group of managers, according to the National Workplace Flexibility Study.

Employers and human resource professionals looking to get ahead of the benefits and health care reform game should take a note of a new free survey in the works by McGraw Wentworth.

The plaintiffs who lost a recent lawsuit trying to prevent the federal government from providing tax credits to purchase health insurance on federal exchanges have filed for an expedited appeal in the case.

Outcomes tracking and easy access are contributing to the rise of the employee assistance program. But your clients need you to spread the word.

With Obamacare bearing down on them, a doctors’ group said emergency rooms are less able to provide quality care, and more resources will be needed to handle an expected surge of patients from the new law.

Enrollment in Obamacare health plans for small businesses is off to a slow start, leaving in doubt whether the U.S. program can attract enough customers to satisfy insurers.

Despite assurances from the Department of Health and Human Services that Healthcare.gov is secure, Committee on Oversight & Government Reform Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calf.) said Thursday that we “must assume that website is still vulnerable and Americans may have [personally identifiable information] hacked and taken.”

The back-end payment system of Healthcare.gov is still being built, a senior Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official said Thursday in testimony on Capitol Hill.

Workers in San Francisco who have caregiving responsibilities now have the right to request changes to their working conditions, thanks to the Family Friendly Work Ordinance. A similar right-to-request law was also passed in Vermont last spring.

Why are employers still offering health care benefits and increasing worksite wellness activities? It’s not rocket science. Employers don’t offer benefits because they are altruistic. They do so primarily to recruit and retain talent and to ensure workers have the mental and physical capacity to perform their best on the job.