Health and wellness

More than a year after technical glitches on Healthcare.gov emboldened Affordable Care Act critics and fueled late-night talk show jokes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has since forged partnerships with four digital platforms to help promote the current open-enrollment period.

The advent of private and public health care exchanges has expanded employers’ horizons to consider subsidizing pre-Medicare eligible retiree health benefits through the individual market.

Congress’ first week was a busy one, as new lawmakers worked to make changes to the Affordable Care Act — changes employers should bear in mind as they develop their benefit plan and ACA compliance strategies in the coming year.

Brokers and employers applaud the recent push by Congress to revise the ACA 30-hour work week definition, but the change could mean an immediate workload increase for benefit advisers.

Walgreens and WebMD have announced a new partnership that will create a virtual wellness-coaching program on Walgreens.com.

As government policy continues to shift responsibility for health maintenance from employer to employee, wellness initiatives are turning out to be simply a piece of the bigger puzzle in health care’s key to overall wellness: health management.

Industry experts offer tips to create a program and help employees save for the future.

Large employers are increasingly putting an end to their most generous health-care coverage as a tax on "Cadillac" insurance plans looms closer under the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans, industry organizations and a coalition of employer groups are ramping up their efforts to change the ACA’s definition of full-time employment from 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week.

The ACA’s employer mandate is now in effect for large employers, but there’s still plenty of work to do. Experts share the month-by-month updates advisers should be providing to clients this year.

The ever-increasing scope of wellness technology is drawing more and more employees into worksite programs, but keeping those workers on track can still be a challenge.

Although consumer support tools were better during open enrollment year two as compared with the first go on Healthcare.gov and the state-based marketplaces, there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made.

These facilities can reduce health care costs and improve employee productivity, survey finds.

Oklahoma and five other states are urging the Supreme Court to uphold a challenge to tax subsidies allowed for under the Affordable Care Act, in a case that could have major implications for the health care reform law.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. is poised for HIX-related growth in 2015 on the heels of solid third-quarter revenue.

Traditional wellness programs may be missing the mark when it comes to continued employee engagement and managing health care costs for participants.

On Jan. 1, 2015, the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules went live for many employers. Despite final rules and regulation from the government, here is a partial list of unresolved items that would benefit from additional guidance.

CMS has released the 2015 list of counties where health plan carriers and some employers must provide information in a language other than English.

Industry experts offer their 2015 benefits predictions.

Oregon officials are pledging to avoid 2014’s enrollment nightmare, which prevented the state-run HIX from fully launching online and led to the departure of six top officials connected to the exchange.