Health and wellness

Ever since final rules under the Affordable Care Act dictated that outcomes-based wellness programs must offer reasonable alternatives to employees unable to achieve the program’s health benchmarks, employers have continued to worry over the effectiveness of their health improvement efforts.

Commentary: Under the ACA, clinical trials offer an expanding frontier for plan sponsors and insurers, says Symetra’s Marien Diaz.

The IRS has released long-awaited draft instructions for the forms employers will use to comply with the ACA’s employer mandate, giving benefit advisers and their clients a glimpse of the work ahead for 2015 and how to begin preparing now.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington will rehear a recent court decision that found the ACA's premium subsidies invalid in more than two dozen states due to the law’s specific language. A rehearing may reduce the chances of a new Supreme Court showdown over a central element of the health reform law.

Most Americans value life insurance as a means to financial wellbeing. Life insurance month reminds brokers to make that connection.

Fed up over unpaid enrollment commissions, benefit advisers are suing the Nevada state exchange and its website contractor Xerox.

The case, EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems, serves as a reminder for advisers and their employer clients, when putting together a wellness plan, to pay careful attention to how the EEOC defines liability.

In what could serve as a caution to employers using health and fitness apps to engage workers in their wellness programs, researchers at Brigham Young University are warning over the trend of developers basing their platforms' rewards on gamification.

The Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that Kevin Counihan, the head of Connecticut’s state-run exchange will join the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as CEO of the Marketplace, also known as the federal government’s health care exchange.

Many benefit managers – especially those at smaller companies – have never had to help an employee with an accommodation at work or help chart their path back to work after a disability leave.

The Obama administration has announced a government workaround to allow employees of religious nonprofits access to birth-control coverage even if their employer has opted not to pay for such medicines.

In anticipation of the Affordable Care Act’s excise tax, U.S. employers are planning to take more aggressive approaches to projected single-digit increases in health care costs by revisiting the viability of consumer-driven health plans and spousal and dependent coverage.

Benefit advisers and employers say a host of challenges is not only to blame for stagnant SHOP enrollment, but must be overcome if SHOP is to enjoy any success.

In this series, EBN profiles three companies with winning wellness programs. The University of Michigan shares how its network of 400 wellness champions is key to the program’s success.

Although open enrollment for ACA plans is not set to begin until November 15, a new report estimates that nearly 7 million adults may be able to enroll through special enrollment periods.

While use of electronic cigarettes is growing in popularity, employers are starting to take a look at adopting policies on use of the device at work, and how to protect workers from coming into contact with second-hand vapors.

In this series, EBN profiles three companies with winning wellness programs. Whirlpool Corporation, the global manufacturer of major home appliances, began its exploration into wellness in 2009.

Enrollment on the SHOP exchanges remains stagnant, a concern benefit advisers attribute to inadequate marketing practices. Brokers also remain concerned about the poor quality of training for those assisting employers with enrollment.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new one-page publication with information about exemptions to the health coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Employers are seeking help from benefit brokers and advisers as health care costs have them searching for alternatives to the current system of health care delivery.