Health and wellness

Transparency and flexibility are among the attributes brokers look for when implementing a wellness program, EBA survey shows.

With desks the central point for getting work done, employers often focus on having employees sit at their workstations to complete assigned tasks the entire day. Encouraging employees to stand, stretch, and walk around is counterintuitive.

Commentary: Countless conversations with brokers struggling with 6055 and 6056 concerns show many find their applicable large employer clients are challenged to find practical solution for this reporting, says EmployeeTech’s Michael Weiskirch.

The Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Options Program will not succeed without the broker community, the heads of three state-run exchanges said at a HIX policy conference.

Only 10% of some 480 employers in 36 industries responding to a recent poll have implemented an in-house or outsourced solution to comply with Affordable Care Act reporting requirements.

The head of a Senate investigative subcommittee said he plans to look into problems with the health insurance marketplaces set up for the Affordable Care Act that forced many taxpayers to owe some of the tax credit money they had received for buying health insurance.

A new $250,000 national advertising campaign running on several popular political TV programs casts the Affordable Care Act as a positive force that is saving lives. It also seeks to counteract continued threats of repeal or scaling back the landmark legislation.

Without an effective strategy or the right tools to reduce costs, brokers and employers continue to embrace cost shifting through payroll contributions and changes to deductibles and coinsurance to manage rising healthcare cost. However, there are resources that can help employers effectively measure the success of a wellness plan, while incorporating specific cost-saving strategies.

It is “silly” for Republicans to put together a response to the Supreme Court’s expected June ruling on the legality of subsides in the federal health care exchange, the health policy director at the CATO Institute, which helped launch the lawsuit, said Monday.

Commentary: As the EEOC’s proposed regulations for wellness programs remain under review for public comment until mid-June, employers should not feel paralyzed in designing new wellness programs nor compelled to throw out existing ones.

Healthcare.gov runs the risk of offering too many health plan choices and the opportunity exists to be able to make it easier for consumers to compare coverage, the website’s CEO, Kevin Counihan, said Monday.

Most employers have still not determined how they will comply with complex ACA reporting requirements that began Jan. 1. Benefit brokers and consultants should be discussing the requirements and the solutions with their employer clients, experts say.

Finding ways to deter painkiller abuse has been a high priority for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years. And with opioid abuse costing U.S. businesses close to $26 billion a year, health plan sponsors should take note as well.

The benchmark for demonstrating return on investment of population health management programs has been medical cost savings. But that's notion is changing as employers are discovering that several other measures of program success are also in their grasp.

The proposed regulations provide guidance on the extent to which employers may use incentives to encourage employee participation in wellness programs that include disability-related questions and/or medical examinations.

Commentary: Small employers that reimburse employees or pay directly for all or part of their health coverage have a short window to cease this practice, or they will be subject to an expensive excise tax.

The U.S. Congress adopted a budget that will allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and send a repeal or revision of President Barack Obama’s landmark 2010 health-care law to his desk.

Smaller companies and non-profits are among the organizations that are contemplating a switch in how they manage employee benefits.

Discussion about the ACA has moved from understanding it to implementing it, but employers and their advisers continue to meet challenges in doing so.

Employee engagement is the challenge of many wellness programs, but several companies have improved employee participation with gaming and, yes, zombies.