Health and wellness

The IRS has issued its first adjustment to the ACA definition of “affordability” for the 2015 plan year. Building a solid ACA compliance plan with your employer clients means understanding the act clearly provides for such changes.

Amidst further rollout of the ACA’s provisions, researchers expect more employees to enroll in their employer-sponsored health plan for 2015 — a surge benefit advisers should be preparing employers to manage.

One of the most important issues on the mind of business owners is the Affordable Care Act and its employer shared responsibility provision. Paychex shares the top three ESR questions received from business owners and their responses.

Retiring baby boomers and health care reform law contribute to increased mergers and acquisitions activity.

Brokers and assisters will need to work closer together to help consumers during the 2015 ACA open enrollment, but most agree that will involve overcoming some underlying issues.

Vermont has cut ties with the vendor of their health insurance exchange, CGI, after continued complaints and errors with the online portal — a 'debacle' further exacerbated by the fact benefit brokers and advisers have mostly been left out of the loop.

The AMA’s designation of obesity as a disease promises to gain more medical coverage for treatment options, but could cost your employer clients in the short-term.

The IRS’ new draft forms for employer reporting on health care coverage unveils a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

While the logistics of health care growing increasingly complex, benefit advisers could and should play a crucial role in helping employers and employees understand the new health care delivery system.

Benefit advisers working with small to mid-size employers to boost benefit participation can focus on cost-saving measures and enrollment and education activities that larger companies are more inclined or able to invest in.

Technical glitches and data-management challenges have dominated HIX headlines at both the state and federal level, with the latest news showing how even the most widely regarded and most vilified state-run operations now share this common thread.

Benefit advisers hoping to stay ahead of the trend of employers transferring some of the burden of increased health care costs to their employees, should be prepared to discuss a variety of new and old cost-sharing strategies, as well as additional cost-saving tools.

Private exchanges are a complex tool in a complex market, but they continue to evolve as employers switch to them, and brokers learn to work with them. Panelists discussed where they will go next during at opening keynote Tuesday at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Mania.

As the part-time workforce in America expands, a growing number of employers are considering voluntary benefit packages as a recruitment and retention tool not only for full-time staff, but their variable hour employees, as well.

Accountable care organizations promise better alignment of health care provider incentives and patient outcomes. Can ACOs revolutionize employer-sponsored health care?

Commentary: Meditation is not just some quirky, hippy philosophy; it is actually grounded in physiology. Some companies have taken these benefits so seriously that they have dedicated quiet rooms within the office so employees can meditate.

The IRS released draft forms for employers to use to report health coverage offerings to employees, unveiling a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the health law.

Two federal appeals courts have issued conflicting decisions about the legality of subsidies on the federal exchanges — a split that may have some significant impact on employer planning for ACA compliance.

In another blow to the health law’s federal subsidies this week, the GAO says fake application information successfully yielded subsidy payouts in an undercover investigation. One broker says if consumers are able to obtain subsidies in circumstances where they shouldn’t, they’re not going to trust brokers who tell them the truth.

Commentary: Here are some tips from blogger Jeff Hyman on how to ensure employers’ wellness programs are on track, including top-level buy-in and consistency.