Employee benefits

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.

Improving employee health while reducing employer health care costs are the dual objectives of supermarket chain Kroger, which has about 130,000 people — employees and dependents — enrolled in one of its three medical plans.

Combining wellness and HSAs is a long-term strategy. However, there can be some immediate benefit for the employer, which typically begins by going from a traditional fully insured plan to a high-deductible plan with a HSA, thereby saving the employer some money right out of the gate.

The U.S. government has awarded Accenture’s Federal Services unit a one-year contract, with an initial payment of $45 million, the Dublin-based company said in a statement Accenture will succeed Montreal-based CGI Group, which drew criticism for the website’s early stumbles.

CGI Group, the company that built the main Obamacare website, will be replaced next month when its contract with the U.S. federal government expires, a person familiar with the decision said.

Whether your business is self-insured or purchases a health plan, it’s time to bend the cost curve in your favor. Using a combination of robust data analytic tools and care management, population health management offers benefit managers a proactive approach to improve the health and well-being for members whose chronic conditions can account for 75% or more of your healthcare expenses.

Humana said it expects new Obamacare customers to be sicker and costlier than anticipated, after the U.S. government’s decision to let healthier people keep their existing plans.