Health and wellness

Advisers working with employer clients on ACA compliance should pay close attention to the DOL’s recent updates on out-of-pocket limits and preventive service requirements.

A contractor the Obama administration hired to monitor progress on its health insurance website, Healthcare.gov, repeatedly warned the project was falling behind before the site failed in October, Senate Republicans said in a report.

Looking toward 2015 open enrollment, experts say Healthcare.gov will be a vastly better place but work continues on some back end functionality.

Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear discuss what key factors led to Obamacare’s 8 million enrollees

Several benefit brokers share their experiences with using TV ads during open enrollment 2014.

Commentary: Blogger Sam Fleet submits that in order for a wellness initiative to be truly comprehensive, benefit advisers and their employer clients must look at other components of employees’ lives.

The state of Massachusetts officially repealed the employer pay-or-play regulations that were part of its landmark 2006 health care reform law. Similar to the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the state statute required employers of a certain size to either offer health care coverage to their employees or pay a fine.

Estimated enrollment is three times the number consultancy predicted last year.

Virtually all large employers are committed to conventional wellness programs. Because of this market saturation, wellness vendors and their commercial partners, benefits consultants, are now setting their sights on smaller employers. These groups would do well to learn what hasn’t worked in wellness and avoid wellness programs built around health risk appraisals, biometrics, and preventive medical care.

CMS has granted 18 states a delay in enacting employee choice on the SHOP exchange, which some advisers feel is the only incentive for employers to enroll on the exchange at all.

Benefit brokers should be prepared to communicate ACA updates and answer questions both in-person and via new technology to reach employees.

The emergence of public and private health insurance exchanges, as well as the ongoing shift toward placing more responsibility on workers for health plan decisions, is creating a new normal for employers and employees alike.

Potentially a result of complaints from consumers and increased competition on the ACA exchanges, benefit brokers may be pleased to find more options on the 2015 plans.

With some state-run exchanges struggling, brokers and agents contemplate whether a national Healthcare.gov is possible and whether that would be a good or a bad thing for the insurance community.

Employees living paycheck to paycheck need solutions from their employers to meet financial emergencies, yet most employers aren’t aware financial wellness programs and lending solutions exist or that they’re credible.

Benefit brokers should be turning their sights to the capabilities of health care data to improve employer clients’ employees’ health. There are doctors asking for even more potential from computer algorithms to interpret such data and could provide a glimpse into the future.

Despite all the technical glitches with Healthcare.gov and state-run exchanges during open enrollment, a large majority of Americans researching health plan options relied on websites for information, but supplemented their research with other outlets for answers, including brokers and advisers.

Commentary: One of America’s most enduring mysteries is why the organizations that pay for most health care don’t work together to force better value from the health care industry.

Most people wouldn't buy a car without shopping around and doing some online research first. You’d think that people would show similar interest when shopping for health insurance.

This figure is about one-third less than previously estimated, after the Obama administration created exemptions from the fine.