Health and wellness

Obamacare opponents will argue Tuesday, to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, that millions of otherwise qualified people in the 36 states that haven’t set up marketplaces are ineligible to receive the subsidies.

State-run exchange flaws have sparked talk of extending the open enrollment deadline beyond March 31 in states where residents could not complete applications through their respective online marketplaces.

With just days to go in open enrollment on the ACA’s public exchanges, brokers say the biggest problem is getting a hold of certain carriers, and one in particular rose to the top of the list of complaints.

Employers are making creative changes to employee benefit offerings to stem the tide of rising health care costs, but many are taking a wait-and-see approach to private exchanges, according to presenters at MetLife’s 10th National Benefits Symposium Monday.

Months after becoming the first state to offer health care coverage to lower-income residents through a “private option” rather than Medicaid expansion under the ACA, Arkansas finally agreed to extend this closely watched political compromise.

Employees in organizations with strong cultures of health spend more time working, work more carefully and concentrate better than employees at other organizations, according to research by the Integrated Benefits Institute.

Republican leaders on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are challenging the Treasury Department’s authority to delay the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, calling it a political move directed by President Obama ahead of the November elections.

Nearly four years after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act more than half (53%) of Americans disapprove of the law — but most of those opponents now say they want politicians to make the law work, according to a new Pew Research Center study.

WellPoint Inc., the second-largest for-profit health insurer in the U.S., raised its earnings forecast for the year as the company adds customers through the exchanges set up under Obamacare.

One in every five Affordable Care Act applicants in Wisconsin has not yet paid their premium, according to Wisconsin’s MacIver Institute. The news comes on the heels of a Republican effort to uncover how many of the 5 million ACA enrollees across the country have paid their first premium.

Opposing the ACA's contraceptive coverage rule, Hobby Lobby is asking the Supreme Court to give for-profit corporations the same religious freedoms as individuals, with potentially sweeping rights to opt out of laws they say are immoral.

Technology company Cerner lowers its health care costs through personalized mobile messaging.

At any given time in the United States, an estimated 1 in 10 adults report symptoms that would qualify for a depression diagnosis. For benefits professionals, navigating employee mental health can be tricky. Not all symptoms are noticeable, but a few hidden indicators can hinder overall productivity.

Despite the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most Americans obtain insurance or pay a fine, one-third of the uninsured plan to remain without insurance, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com.

Forty-five percent of employers have implemented or plan to consider using a private exchange for their full-time active employees before 2018, according to a new employer survey conducted by the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative

As brokers eye their new competitor created by the ACA, many have wondered who will be liable for any mistakes made by the non-advising entities.

A snapshot of Obamacare enrollment in seven states suggests the law hasn’t significantly increased competition in health insurance markets, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported. Meanwhile, HHS said Monday enrollment has reached 5 million as the March 31 deadline is just two weeks away.

A program for sick Americans who were previously denied insurance coverage will be extended another month, through April, the Obama administration said Friday afternoon.

Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent letters to every insurer participating in the federal marketplace to request specific enrollment data, including how many people have paid their first month’s premium, how many individuals were previously uninsured and how many plans received a subsidy.

Under the Department of Health and Human Services’ final rule issued March 5 on the reinsurance fee imposed under the Affordable Care Act, some employers may be exempt in 2015 or 2016. Is your client exempt?