Health and wellness

The University of Michigan has been fine-tuning its wellness champion network for over 20 years. Over that time, wellness champs have morphed in number and organizational role, but have always played “an important role for helping to develop our culture of health across the University," explains Karen Schmidt, associate director of wellness and health culture at the University of Michigan.

At Oracle’s first-ever HCM World conference, the technology company demonstrated its commitment to human resources customers, explaining its strategy for Modern HR in the Cloud, which is focused on meeting the needs of employees in a large, dispersed workforce.

A panel of voluntary carriers shares tricks of the trade at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, N.J.

While this might not be the easy tactic, it’s an important transformation in the long run, Employee Family Protection's Vinnie Daboul told attendees at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, N.J.

The employee benefit adviser’s role is a critical one that must be protected in dealing with the “sheer confusion” of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Kelly Ayotte told NAHU members at the organization’s annual Capitol Conference, where she also proposed several GOP-led repairs to the law.

Among the top Republican alternatives to the Affordable Care Act are bills that focus on price transparency, income taxes changes and tort reform, the Republican National Committee’s Sharon Day told attendees at NAHU’s annual Capitol Conference.

As federal funding for state-run SHOP exchanges runs out in 2015, voluntary benefits may be the key to exchange sustainability, according to Ryan Howells, vice president and general manager of Connecture.

A company with a strong culture of health is more likely to have happy, health-conscious employees than those businesses not promoting wellness, according to a new study’s findings.

Employees treasure their workplace benefits more than ever, yet employers are increasingly asking workers to shoulder more of the costs of providing those benefits, finds a new survey of benefit plan participants and employers.

In the opening keynote at health IT conference HIMSS14, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini painted a grim picture of health care in the U.S. that is plagued by inefficiency and waste.

Health insurers participating in the Medicare Advantage program, including Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc., face a base payment cut of about 3.55% next year, the U.S. government said. The ACA could bring cuts up another few percentage points.

The Affordable Care Act is overcoming its initial problems and is making progress in accomplishing its mission of expanding and improving coverage, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan said.

LIMRA survey finds 70% of advisers predict the ACA will slash group medical sales, with many saying health care reform will drive employers out of the market altogether.

Republicans' alternative to the ACA, the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, would do away with exchanges and include a cap on employer-provided health insurance that working Americans could exclude from their taxable income.

Employers looking to increase productivity should encourage employees to use their paid time off, an Oxford Economics study released Thursday suggests.

More than 820,000 people have selected a Covered California health insurance plan through the Golden State’s public marketplace through the first two weeks of February, exceeding the state’s open enrollment goal through March 31 of 700,000 enrollees for 2014, officials said Wednesday.

It’s never too early for employers to examine ways they can minimize their exposure to the 40% excise tax slated to take effect in 2018 on so-called Cadillac-style health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

With a reported 15% increase in wellness incentive spending within their health care plans, corporate employers have their sights set on improving their workforce’s overall health in 2014 through wellness programs for both employees and their significant others, according to a new survey from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health.

President Barack Obama’s repeated postponement of deadlines in the rollout of his health care overhaul has sparked accusations from Republicans that he’s straying into dangerous territory by rewriting the law.

Most Americans are avoiding the lowest-priced health plans on the Obamacare insurance exchanges, taking advantage of government subsidies to seek more protection against high treatment costs.