Health and wellness

Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner talked conservatives’ view of both employers and brokers at a recent Washington policy conference on health reform alternatives. She shares her conclusions on the Affordable Care Act, next steps on broker compensation, and more.

U.S. Health Insurance Regulator Gary Cohen has long wanted to return home to California, and the end of open enrollment seemed like the perfect time to make that move, he told the media Thursday, two days after announcing his resignation.

Looking toward the end of 2014 open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges, Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said Thursday at an AHIP conference that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expecting a “fairly significant spike in enrollments."

In two employer-focused sessions at AHIP’s annual policy conference in Washington this week, the excise tax in the ACA — known as the Cadillac tax — dominated the list of future concerns for plan sponsors.

Gary Cohen, the top U.S. health insurance regulator accused by congressional Republicans of misleading them before the troubled start of the Obamacare insurance website, will resign.

The move by Los Angeles City Council this week to ban electronic cigarettes from restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other public spaces in the city leaves employers grappling with the issue of whether to develop policies to regulate their use in the workplace.

A new trend in employee coaching and assistance programs applies the principles of neuroscience to help employees reduce stress, quit smoking and become more focused and productive.

With mid-term elections bearing down, the government changed its regulation of Obamacare to give consumers and states more flexibility to decide on their health plans, insurers more time to sign up customers and taxpayers a chance to avoid more costs.

Many employers are turning to private health care exchanges to rein in costs — and benefit consulting firms are reaping the benefits, according to a new report from Moody’s Investor Services.

Health insurers such as WellPoint Inc. and Humana Inc. stand to gain $5.5 billion next year to cover losses from Obamacare in a program the law’s opponents label a bailout.

It's Facebook for your health: How new technologies are helping to drive employee behavior change, using employees' love of social media to help provide an encouraging and accountable environment to reach their health goals.

While millennials may likely be the most savvy generation when it comes to monitoring their health and tracking their progress towards health goals, employers will find that this group needs monetary motivation, finds a new survey.

Facing an end-of-the-month deadline, the U.S. government is increasing efforts to enroll millions more Americans into Obamacare, including appeals from President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.

When employers focus on incorporating financial education and other wellness programs into their company’s culture, it turns out increasing engagement – as well as having the right tools in place – is a shared goal among both conventional employers and unique businesses such as the NFL Players Association.

The Obama administration last week said it will offer relief to consumers unable to purchase health insurance through state-run exchanges that have been hampered by technical difficulties.

The benefits industry is pushing back against a campaign by some policy-makers to increase federal oversight of self-insured health plans, particularly in regards to the purchasing of stop-loss insurance.

At a Republican think tank-sponsored forum on Thursday, congressmen from the right touted a patient and doctor-focused fix to health reform, but remain split on whether to repeal or make piecemeal changes to the Affordable Care Act. They also voiced concerns about employees’ ability to make ends meet as a consequence of the law.

Employers are begging for information on compliance with the Affordable Care Act, and as their benefit adviser you can and should offer them guidance — or risk losing them to an adviser who will. Attorney Peter Marathas of Proskauer Rose LLP has outlined four ACA issues you should already be discussing with your clients.

Consumers shopping on the Obamacare exchanges are thriftier than the general public, with more picking health plans based on price rather than their choice of doctors, a study found.

However employers’ decisions have been determined by the Affordable Care Act, the reasons to continue investing in employee health and productivity remain.