Health and wellness

Although the ACA’s excise tax doesn’t go into effect until 2018, employers are already fearful — benefit advisers should be offering ideas and solutions to calm their fears.

For employers fighting to maintain grandfathered status, consultants and benefit managers predict the Affordable Care Act’s ongoing implementation will mean the end of these health plan structures in the near future.

Commentary: Employers and advisers that embrace the full concept of wellness by implementing programs with these four elements have the ability to improve the physical health of employees and put corporate productivity and profitability back in the black.

Benefits firm WorkforceTactix and tech company Digital Health Innovations are using data analytics and an innovative health app to predict and prevent clients’ high-cost claims, increase transparency and rein in health care costs.

U.S. employers are not immune to the Ebola scare sweeping the country, but for most businesses, the risk of their employees contracting the virus remains extremely low. Nevertheless, employers are encouraged to re-examine their workplace travel policies and pandemic plans, say labor and business health experts.

Successful worksite wellness programs may help improve employees' health and productivity, but how can you effectively implement and follow through on your wellness aspirations? Here are 10 ideas.

Several tech companies this week announced they would be adding egg freezing benefits to their health plan. While that may sound like a nice perk to some, making this and other benefit plan changes comes with risks that your employer clients, with your help, should consider.

The Internal Revenue Service said that the sequestration process could have an impact on the amount that certain small tax-exempt employers receive on the refundable portion of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.

The new CEO of the federal health insurance marketplace, Kevin Counihan, knows there is room for improvement, but says new processes have Healthcare.gov ready for 2015 open enrollment.

A fix is in the works to ensure agents and brokers can identify themselves and therefore receive commissions for their work on the federally-facilitated marketplace, an agency official at The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight said Tuesday.

Wearable wellness is here to stay, yet precisely how the devices will affect employer programs remains to be seen.

With an endorsement from the Affordable Care Act, outcomes-based wellness programs are gaining popularity. In the process, the way employers incentivize participation is changing in step with evolving user-friendly technologies.

Walmart’s announcement this week that it will drop health care coverage for its part-time employees reiterates that employer-sponsored health care coverage is changing, and those benefit advisers who plan to remain relevant to clients must change, too.

EBA’s annual Workplace Benefits Summit, held last week in Boca Raton, Fla., included a celebration of our Advisers of the Year, strategy and marketing tips from benefit professionals, and the presentation of our inaugural Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising awards.

The more things appear to change, the more they appear to stay the same. That’s what a consumer health advocacy group in Florida is saying about double-digit health insurance premium increases that it says have been predating, and now post-dating, the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Encouraging the use of video game-styled features on smartphones to boost participation in your wellness program might get employees off to a good start, but these tools might not be the best long-term solution to building engagement.

Walmart Stores Inc. the world’s biggest retail chain, plans to stop offering health benefits to employees who work less than 30 hours a week, a move that will affect about 2% of its U.S. staff.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new focus on employer wellness programs has many health and benefit managers scratching their heads on what is acceptable when it comes to voluntary health screenings and incentive rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

EBN’s annual Benefits Forum & Expo, held last week in Boca Raton, Fla., included a special focus on wearable wellness and an inspirational keynote address from marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. In case you missed the event, here’s our coverage.

Employing a proactive strategy to address the explosive costs of specialty medications can serve the patients who need those specialized meds, with an unbelievable 63% increase in costs expected in the next two years.